ROME — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic gave his best performance of the week to reach the Italian Open final, downing David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 Saturday. Seeking his third Rome title, and second straight, Djokovic will face either Roger Federer or Stan Wawrinka in the final. In the women's tournament, two-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova reached the final by overpowering qualifier Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-3 in an all-Russian matchup. Sharapova hit 27 winners to Gavrilova's 10 and recovered a break early in the second set. Sharapova's opponent in Sunday's championship match will be 10th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, who fought through her nerves and rallied past second-seeded Simona Halep 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Aiming for her second career title, Suarez Navarro improved to 4-0 in her career against Halep on clay. “It was such a tough match from a physical standpoint,” Suarez Navarro told SuperTennis TV. “The biggest improvement I've made this year is in my mind.” The Spaniard, who leads the tour this year in wins with 31, won the opening two games but once Halep settled down she started to dominate the rallies with her precise ground strokes. The Romanian reeled off six straight games to take the opening set. An easy miss off of a bounced overhead in the third game of the following set seemed to rattle Halep's confidence as she became more tentative, especially on her forehand. Suarez Navarro took advantage to take the lead as Halep's frustration became clearly visible after she cracked her racket in distress in the sixth game. With more time to hit, the Spaniard forced a decider repeatedly running Halep around the court with her breath-taking one-handed backhand. Neither player could hold serve in the first eight games of the decider before Halep led to lead 5-4. Resilient Suarez Navarro then got her service game together and after breaking again to lead 6-5, finally got over the line with her third match point. Djokovic lost a set in each of his three previous matches at the Foro Italico, looking rusty from three weeks off. But he was solid from the start against Ferrer, using one break in each set to take control and extend his winning streak to 21 matches. “Comparing to the previous matches, this was definitely the best so far,” Djokovic said. “It's satisfying, and giving me reason to believe I can play at this level and maybe even better tomorrow. “I did have some ups and downs in terms of overall performance in my first three matches. Today, consistency was the right word to use.” Djokovic's only complaint concerned the clay court. He often pointed out problematic areas to the chair umpire during the match, and workers came out during changeovers to smooth them over. “In a couple of places the holes are really deep,” Djokovic said. “If you slide and get into that hole you can twist an ankle easily. It's dangerous to play in these conditions.” This is the last big warmup for the French Open, which starts next weekend. Swiss eighth seed Stan Wawrinka sent seven-time champion Rafael Nadal crashing out with his maiden clay court win over the Spaniard Friday. At a packed Foro Italico, where Hollywood star Ben Stiller was among the VIPs, Wawrinka wowed the crowd on his way to a thrilling 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 victory to secure a semifinal match-up with compatriot Roger Federer Saturday. The winner of that match will meet either Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion, or Spain's David Ferrer, the seventh seed, in the final Sunday. Nadal remains the favorite for Roland Garros, the highlight of the clay court season which begins in less than 10 days' time in Paris and where he claimed his ninth French Open title last year. But the Spaniard's defeat at such an early stage of the competition in Rome will have alerted his rivals to minor chinks in his clay court armour. Nadal was stunned by Andy Murray last week as the Briton claimed victory in the final of the Madrid Masters. — Agencies
