The defending champion, Simona Halep breezed her way into her third out of four Mutua Madrid Open finals, after defeating Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-3 during their semi-final match in Spain yesterday.

Halep, then just fell short of making it a double, after she and her doubles partner, Irina-Camelia Begu, lost to Timea Babos and Andrea Hlavackova, 4-6 2-6 in their semi-final match.

Halep will battle it out in today’s final against Kristina Mladenovic, who got the better of Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4 7-6(4).

Mladenovic leads the current H2H 3-1. It will however be the first time that they do battle on a clay court.