Halep eases into Italian Open semis

Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep entered the semi-final of the Italian Open with a comfortable straight-sets win over Estonia's Anett Kontaveit on Friday.

The sixth seed defeated Kontaveit 6-2, 6-4 to set up a last-four clash with Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens or Australian Daria Gavrilova, reports Sport24.

The World No. 4 had last week defeated Kristina Mladenovic to retain the Madrid Masters title.

Bertens, ranked 20th in the world, faces the 33rd-ranked Gavrilova later on Friday.

Ninth seeded Venus Williams will face Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza for a place in the last four, while Ukraine's Elina Svitolina faces Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarter-final clash.