Simona Halep battled through to the final of the WTA Italian Open as she beat Garbine Muguruza in three sets ©Getty Images

Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova, the top two seeds in the women's draw will meet in the Italian Open final after both coming through their last-four encounters.

On the men's side the final will see top seed Novak Djokovic face Diego Schwartzman, who yesterday beat Rafael Nadal to ensure there will be a new name on the men's trophy at the Foro Italico this year.

Semi-final day in Rome started with women's top seed Halep up against Spain's Garbine Muguruza in an eagerly-anticipated encounter.

The Romanian started strongly and opened up a 5-1 lead in the first set courtesy of two breaks of serve.

Halep went on to close out the set 6-3 before a change of tactics paid dividends for Muguruza in set two.

A more aggressive approach helped Muguruza take the set 6-4, one that featured four consecutive breaks of serve before the Spaniard won three games in a row to clinch it.

The decider replicated the opening set as Halep again opened up a 5-1 lead before being pegged back to 5-4.

The Romanian managed to break her opponent's serve in the tenth game of the set to close out a 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory.

Halep will face second seed Karolina Pliskova in the final, after the Czech player beat her compatriot Marketa Vondrousova 6-2 6-4.

Novak Djokovic reached the final of the ATP Italian Open after a straight sets win over Norway's Casper Ruud ©Getty Images
Novak Djokovic reached the final of the ATP Italian Open after a straight sets win over Norway's Casper Ruud ©Getty Images

In the men's semi-finals top seed Djokovic was made to work hard against Norwegian Casper Ruud before reaching the final in straight sets.

Ruud secured the early break in the first set but Djokovic battled back winning four straight games to close it out 7-5.

The second set was also fiercely contested with Djokovic securing a break of serve in the sixth game before closing it out 6-3 and seal his place in the final.

Djokovic will start as favourite for the match but will face tough competition against Diego Schwartzman, the eighth seed from Argentina, who yesterday knocked out defending champion Nadal.

That set up a last four match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov, a tight match that went to three sets.

Schwartzman claimed the first 6-4 before Shapovalov took the second set 7-5.

The deciding set was even closer going all the way to a tiebreak, which Schwartzman took by seven points to four, securing him victory in three hours and 15 minutes.

The finals at the joint Association of Tennis Professionals Masters 1000 and Women's Tennis Association Premier 5 tournament are scheduled to take place tomorrow.