 Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova make up the final for Rome in 2020, and both players have had to battle to get into the final. Halep had a buy in the first round. Her second-round opponent was local hope Paulini, but she brushed her aside 6-3-6-4. In her third round, she had to battle past Ukrainian Jastremska. She got through in straight sets 7-5-6-4. In her quarter-final, she got a little lucky against Puttenseva, and after winning the first set 6-2, Puttenseva retired two-love in the second. The semi-final was a battle of the champions against the number-nine seed Mugurutha. After taking the first set, Halep got into a battle, with Mugurutha coming back from injury to force a third set, but Halep eventually prevailed 6-3-4-6-6-4. Pliskova's run to the final has been similar. After a buy in the first round, she got through Strickova in the second round 6-3-6-3. The third round against qualifier Blinkova. Another straight sets win 6-4-6-3. Her toughest match to date was the quarter-finals against 11th seed Elise Mertens. After dropping the second set, the third set was a wipeout, eventually prevailing 6-3-3-6-6-love. And in the semi-finals against number 12 seed Vondrasova. Another impressive performance by Pliskova, advancing to the final in straight sets 6-2-6-4. These players have played 11 times before, with Halep leading the head-to-head 7-4. The story's a little closer when we talk about clay matches. The head-to-head on clay is 1-1, with Pliskova winning their last meeting in 2018 in the quarter-finals of Madrid. That was a straight sets win. We have a blockbuster final with the number 1 seed versus the number 2 seed in this one. And could be a preview into the French Open in a couple of weeks. It's been a great week for Pliskova to get into some form leading into the third major of the year. But my prediction is Halep in this one and I think she's going to win in 3 sets. Let me know down in the comments below who you think is going to win and what do you think the score is going to be.