Mertens was first on court facing off against home hope Kristyna Pliskova. The No.3 seed came through a tough tie winning 7-5, 7-6 (4) to book her place in the final.

She had won both previous meetings against Pliskova albeit on the hard court instead of the clay but has added that to her record.

Like alluded to, she was made to work hard though which showed in the second-set tiebreak to seal the match. Mertens was 3-0 down but pulled it back to win through in the end in straight sets.

It was then the turn of Halep, the number one seed and World Number Two who edged past her compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets also to make her second final of 2020.

A winner in Dubai in February, she will look to extend her winning streak to nine matches when she faces Elise Mertens albeit having missed most of the year with the Coronavirus pandemic.

It nearly turned out differently though against one of the surprises of the week in Begu as she was a break ahead three times in the opening set and twice earned herself the opportunity to claim the set at 5-4 and 6-5 but Halep powered through.

This carried Halep through as she broke serve in the opening game but Begu did come back winning back-to-back games from 3-1 down to level at 3-3 but after not converting a game point for a 4-3 lead. Halep won 11 out of the last 12 points to win.

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