ROME [Italy]: World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka booked a place in her first Italia Open final with a win over No. 13 seed Danielle Collins in the semi-finals. With her 7-5, 6-2 victory in the semi-final that lasted one hour and 23 minutes, Sabalenka maintained a 6-0 lead against Collins. "I'm very happy to reach my first final in Rome. I think I played really well." "Today's tennis, I'm very happy with the win, especially in two sets, against Danielle," Sabalenka said after the match, as quoted by the WTA." In the semi-final match, Sabalenka thrilled the center court crowd with her clever drop shot winners and power game. Thanks to some spectacular drop shots, Sabalenka took a 4–1 lead. However, after two games, Collins A few strong returns were made to earn break points, and after a double fault by Sabalenka, the set was back on serve at 4–3, not until a Collins forehand miss gave Sabalenka a double set. On point 6, Collins saved a forehand winner before either player faced another break point.Sabalenka won the second set easily and never faced a break point. Sabalenka recorded 21 winners in the match, in contrast to Collins' 15, and the No. 2 seed was 4 of 7 on break points. "I think the level is there, the tennis is there, that I have it to win this. Everything is there. I think I just have to focus on myself and not rush things, wait for the right shot to get things done," said Sabalenka, meanwhile, against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Must win a rematch, having defeated No. 3 Coco Gauff in the first semifinal, to continue her campaign for a first title in Rome Two weeks earlier, in the Madrid final, Sabalenka had three championship points against Swiatek, but Swiatek Winning the instant classic matchup, Swiatek leads 7–3 in their head-to-head match, with Swiatek meeting in the final for the seventh time, all on clay two weeks ago. In addition to her win in the final, Sabalenka was defeated in the Stuttgart final in 2022 and 2023.Sabalenka won over Swiatek in the 2023 Madrid final.