Tennis – WTA Premier 5 – Italian Open – Foro Italico, Rome, Italy – May 19, 2019 Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova poses with a trophy as she celebrates winning the final against Britain’s Johanna Konta REUTERS/Matteo Ciambelli
ROME (Reuters) – Karolina Pliskova ended Johanna Konta’s hopes of landing a first claycourt title with a 6-3 6-4 victory in the Italian Open final on Sunday.
The Czech world number seven did not drop a single service game as she secured the third clay title of her career in one hour 25 minutes.
British number one Konta claimed some big scalps on her way to the final, beating Grand Slam winners Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams as well as Madrid Open champion Kiki Bertens.
However, she struggled to trouble the Czech on serve as Pliskova recorded her seventh win in eight meetings with Konta.
Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie; Editing by Toby Davis