Pliskova seals Rome title with easy win
REUTERS - Karolina Pliskova ended Johanna Konta’s hopes of landing a first clay-court title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the Italian Open final yesterday.
The Czech world number seven did not drop a single service game as she secured the third clay title of her career and her first in Rome in one hour 25 minutes.
British number one Konta claimed some big scalps on her way to the final, beating Grand Slam winners Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams as well as Madrid Open champion Kiki Bertens.
However, she struggled to trouble the Czech on serve as Pliskova recorded her seventh win in eight meetings with Konta.
The result means Pliskova will be the number two seed at the French Open later this month as she will move to second place in the World Rankings today.
Konta was broken in her opening service game before saving a set point at 5-2 but Pliskova served out the first set after the Briton failed to take advantage of the only break point she was afforded in the match at 5-3.
Pliskova missed a break point in Konta’s opening service game of the second set but eventually broke the 28-year-old at 3-3 before holding serve to secure victory.