Milan, 15 May (LaPresse) – Back in the final in Rome eight years on. With a solid and determined performance, Elina Svitolina has reached the final of the BNL Italian Open at the Foro Italico for the third time in her career. In the semi-final, the 31-year-old from Odessa, ranked 10th in the WTA and the seventh seed (champion in 2017 and 2018), won 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, after a battle lasting over two and a quarter hours, against Poland’s Iga Swiatek, ranked No. 4 and the third seed, champion on the Roman clay in 2021, 2022 and 2024, the second top-ten player in a row to be defeated in the tournament (she had knocked out No. 2 Rybakina in the quarter-finals)." ‘It’s an incredible feeling to be back in the final after so many years, and it’s fantastic to have achieved it in this way,’ commented Svitolina immediately after the match, having returned to the top ten this year for the first time since October 2021. Against Swiatek, she secured her 27th victory of the season, her fifth in this particular tournament. On Saturday, Svitolina will contest the title – which would be her third in Rome – against the American Coco Gauff, ranked No. 4 and seeded No. 3.