Rafael Nadal avenged his Madrid Open defeat to Greek youngster Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the Italian Open final ©Getty Images

Rafael Nadal avenged his Madrid Open defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas as Czech Republic's Karolína Plíšková set up a meeting with Britain's Johanna Konta in the women's final at the Italian Open.

Nadal, the defending champion and second seed, swept aside Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 at Foro Italico.

Victory for the 32-year-old, whose loss to the Greek player at the Madrid Open was his fourth semi-final defeat in a row, saw him reach the final of an Association of Tennis Professionals Masters 1000 event for the 50th time.

Nadal will take on either top seed Novak Djokovic or Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who play later this evening.

"The main thing is I am playing better," the Spaniard said. 

"If I play better, I know I'm going to have chances to be in finals and to win semi-final matches."

Johanna Konta became the first British woman to progress to the Italian Open final since Virginia Wade in 1971 ©Getty Images
Johanna Konta became the first British woman to progress to the Italian Open final since Virginia Wade in 1971 ©Getty Images

Konta became the first British woman to progress to the Italian Open final since Virginia Wade in 1971 after she fought back from a set down to beat Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.

The Briton claimed a hard-fought 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 victory in a semi-final clash which lasted 11 minutes shy of three hours.

She will face Plíšková in the final of the Women's Tennis Association Premier 5 tournament after the Czech player despatched Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-4.

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