WTA Rome final preview: Konta and Pliskova assault the title
The epilogue of the women's final of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia will be a challenge on-clay courts between two tennis players who express their best tennis on fast surfaces: Johanna Konta and Karolina Pliskova. On one of the slower surfaces of the WTA Tour, the final will therefore be a non-obvious event, where the best psychological approach to the match could make the difference.
Konta, who is going through a very difficult professional time, could overthrow a complicated season, made up only of disappointments. On her way to the final, the Briton eliminated rivals such as Alison Riske, Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams, Marketa Vondrousova and Kiki Bertens, all very difficult opponents to face. Pliskova, on her path to the final, defeated opponents like Ajla Tomljanovic, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sakkari, reaching her fourth career final on clay-courts.
It will be a fun final to watch, between two tennis players who are going to play an offensive tennis, and where service and forehand will be the weapons that will have to work best. However the mental side of these two tennis players will be the real discriminator of the challenge; Pliskova has more experience and she is playing, overall, a good season. Also this week she has had to waste less energy than her opponent. Having said that the Czech could be the favorite for the final victory.
In the head-to-head Karolina leads 5-1. This is the second challenge on clay-courts between the two players, with Konta winning only one match in 2016, in Beijing, on hard-courts. In this season Pliskova reached and won the Brisbane final against Lesia Tsurenko and lost the Miami Open final against Ashleigh Barty, for a total of 12 career titles won in 24 finals played. For Konta this is the second seasonal final, after the defeat in Rabat against Maria Sakkari. In her career the Briton has won 3 titles in 7 finals played.
WTA Rome final preview - Percentages:
Karolina Pliskova 51% Johanna Konta 49%
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Wd9gG7
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