Suarez Navarro beats Halep to reach Italian Open final

ROME (AP) Tenth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain fought through her nerves and rallied past No. 2 Simona Halep 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 Saturday to reach the Italian Open final.

Aiming for her second career title, Suarez Navarro will face either two-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova or qualifier Daria Gavrilova, who were playing later.

Suarez Navarro improved to 4-0 for her career against Halep on clay, creating trouble for the Romanian with her one-handed backhand.

She needed seven set points to close out the second set and three to end the third.

The match lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.

In the men's tournament, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was facing David Ferrer and Roger Federer was to meet fellow Swiss player Stan Wawrinka.

This is the last big warmup for the French Open.