A stellar field of 56 has been whittled down to two. It’s been an exciting week at Foro Italico. Marathon matches played on Thursday, thanks to Wednesday’s rain out. Top seeds eliminated. Two top contenders out of competition with injury. And, now there are two.
Here’s a look at Johanna Konta’s and Karolina Pliskova’s quest for the title. Which lady will be holding the trophy in Rome?
WTA Italian Open Final Prediction: Johanna Konta vs Karolina Pliskova
Head to head: Konta 1-5 Pliskova
The Czech has a commanding lead in their previous bouts.
Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta turned in the best performance of her clay court career to eliminate the Mutua Madrid Open champion. In fact, 2019 is Konta’s career-best clay court season. In a few short months, Konta has brought in more clay wins that she has in the past three years. Konta appears to have mastered the tricky surface which woefully diminished her WTA ranking.
It took the Brit nearly three hours to bring in her 5-7 7-5 6-2 semifinal win. Britain #1’s aggressive play gave her the edge. Konta hugged the baseline, taking away time from Bertens. Hard hitting groundstrokes to the open court left Bertens struggling to get back into the point. Bertens’ serve wasn’t without challenges. The Dutchwoman’s 10 aces were erased by her 10 double faults – net zero. While Konta had but a single ace, she maintained a 63% first serve percentage. Yet, it was the return game where the Brit excelled, honing in on the Bertens serve. Control of the points came via Konta’s destructive return and aggressive court positioning.
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Karolina Pliskova
Not since 1978 has a Czech woman won the Italian Open, and Pliskova is looking to change that stat. The top seed remaining in Italy has been confidently moving through the draw. En route to the final, Pliskova has eliminated some dangerous competition: Australia’s Ajla Tomlijanovic; American Sofia Kenin; and, Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka. Facing today’s challenge in the form Maria Sakkari, the Czech remained undeterred.
Karolina Pliskova dismantled the Greek rising star in under 90 minutes. In her straight sets win, Pliskova served the best she has this tournament. Exact placement and controlled pace led Pliskova to win 76% of her first serve points. Every part of the Czech’s game is now spot on. It is the form of a champion which all too often fails to remain consistent. Today’s performance clearly shows Pliskova has reclaimed her consistency. If she continues to keep all these elements on point, Pliskova should cruise to the trophy.
The Way to the Win
For Konta to win, she will need to find a way to break the Pliskova serve. That really means that she’ll need to see the serve early and take aggressive cuts on anything left short in the box. Those opportunities will be few and far between if Pliskova’s serve is anywhere close to what we saw in her quarter and semifinal matches. Should Konta’s return of serve be anything less than a well-placed rocket, her chances of taking the trophy are all but gone.
For Pliskova to win, she will need to get some free points on her serve. If the Czech’s weapon of a serve isn’t in place, she doesn’t stand a chance against the aggressive and newly confident Brit. Opening up the court on well placed serves will allow Pliskova to quickly end points, along with her opponent’s confidence. Pliskova has the ability to wrestle a match away from her opponents with quick-strike tennis, creating mounting frustration.
Prediction
Karolina Pliskova is playing too well to expect any missteps at this point in a tournament. While Konta isn’t going to go away easy, Pliskova will find her way to the Italian Open title.
Pliskova in 3
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