Top seed Simona Halep and defending champion Karolina Pliskova will face off in a blockbuster clash for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title. It will be the 12th meeting between the former World No.1 players.
Halep and Pliskova have faced off 11 times in the past, with Halep holding a 7-4 overall lead in their head-to-head. Pliskova, however, has won their last two meetings.
The pair have also split their two meetings on clay.
Halep defeated Pliskova in three sets in the 2017 Roland Garros semifinals, but Pliskova avenged that loss with a straight-set quarterfinal victory at Madrid in 2018.
World No.2 Halep is currently riding a 13-match winning streak after her three-set semifinal win over Garbiñe Muguruza on Sunday and is seeking her first Rome title.
Watch the match highlights between Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza
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This is Halep’s third trip to the Rome final and the battle with Pliskova will be her first match against a Top 5 player in 2020.
The Romanian has made the quarterfinals or better in all five tournaments she has contested this season.
World No.4 Pliskova would be playing in her second consecutive Rome final after a straight-set semifinal victory over fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
Pliskova would be hoping to win her 17th career WTA singles title and her fourth on clay.
A win would also secure her a second title of the year, after coming out victorious in Brisbane in the very first week of the season. She has now won at least one WTA title for eight consecutive seasons.
Pliskova would join 10 other women to have defended her Rome title in history if she wins on Monday. The most recent woman to defend the Rome singles title came very recently – Elina Svitolina in 2018.
Pliskova has defended a singles title one time in her career – the 2020 Brisbane title, which was, in fact, the first time the Czech had ever successfully pulled off the feat.
