The first semi final match on the red clay of Rome was between the world number one, Serena Wiliams, and the twenty one year old Roumanian qualifier, Simona Halep, the 64th ranked player. These two players had only met once before, where the Roumaninan took the first set off Williams before going down in three at Wimbledon in 2011. Serena lost just seven games on her way through to this semi, while Halep had great wins over Kuznetsova, 4th seed Radwanska, 13th seed Vinci and Jankovic. Both players held their opening games in the first set, with the young Roumanian taking points on each of Serena’s service games and she broke the America in the third game. Serena broke back and went to 5-2 before Halep got another game. A third ace for Serena sealed the set 6-3 in forty minutes. Serena started the second set, broke immediately and built a 5-0 lead with Halep still fighting for every point, but to no avail, as the American wrapped up the set to love.
The second semi final was between 3rd seeded Victoria Azarenka an 7th seeded Sara Errani. The Italian had a walk over into the semis when Sharapova pulled out of the tournament with a viral illness. Azarenka survived a two hour long three setter against Stosur to make the semi. In the first set the Belarusian took complete control and built up a 4-0 30-15 lead before rain stopped play. When play resumed, Azarenka finished the set to love. Games went with serve in the second set until play was again stopped Azarenka leading 2-1, but continued in the same way until Errani broke in the 9th game with her serve to come. Azarenka broke back and held and then broke again to take the set 7-5.
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