Johanna Konta defeated the sixth seed Kiki Bertens 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in nearly three hours to reach the Italian Open final for the biggest clay-court result of her career.

Konta’s only previous final on clay came at the start of this month in Rabat, Morocco, where she was beaten by Greece’s Maria Sakkari. This result in Rome against the player who last week won the Madrid Open title will give the British player even more confidence entering the French Open, which starts next weekend.

In Sunday’s final, Konta will face fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova after her 6-4, 6-4 win over Sakkari in the second semi-final.

Midway through the first set, Konta surprised Bertens with a drop-shot winner during a baseline rally, causing Bertens to fall on her stomach to the clay as she rapidly changed directions. In the next game, Konta ran down a drop shot and produced an angled winner that drew a roar from the crowd.

The 42nd-ranked Konta served for the first set at 5-4 but was broken to love. However Bertens later double faulted to let Konta serve for the second set and Konta got an early break in the third.

“I knew going into the match against Kiki that she’s playing some of the best tennis right now in her career. She came off of winning Madrid. She’s definitely in amazing form. She’s No 4 in the world. She’s one of the best players right now,” Konta said. “I knew going out there that there wasn’t going to be one solution. It wasn’t going to be one answer or one specific game plan that was going to be, yeah, like: Wow, that’s OK, I’ve cracked it.

“It was going to be a continuous adjustment, a continuous openness to figure it out within the match. I thought I did that well. I stayed very open in trying to find a solution in each point, in each ball. I just trusted that. I kind of accepted both ways. I mean, after I lost the first set, I didn’t do much wrong. It was a very good set of tennis. Equally the second set. There wasn’t anybody putting a bad foot out of line.

“In the third, I definitely felt that I was able to maintain my level a bit better than her. I think that gave me the upper hand in stringing some more points together. I’m just very happy to have come through.”

In the men’s event, Rafael Nadal looked more like his old, dominant self when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final. It was a measure of revenge for Nadal after losing to Tsitsipas in three sets at this stage in Madrid last week, the last of three consecutive defeats for the Spaniard in the semi-finals clay-court tournaments.

This victory should also restore Nadal’s confidence as he prepares to seek a record‑extending 12th title at the French Open.

Nadal, aiming for a ninth title at the Foro Italico, will now face Novak Djokovic who beat Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3.