Elena Rybakina. [Source: Reuters Sports]

Seventh seed Elena Rybakina beat Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-4 in a rain-delayed semi-final at the Italian Open and will play Anhelina Kalinina in Saturday’s final.

Rybakina prevailed in a fairly straight-forward first set in a match delayed by more than an hour – and then interrupted – due to persistent rain.

Ostapenko gained momentum in the second set and took a 3-0 lead but Rybakina shortened the distance to 4-2 just before rain briefly forced the players off court.

Rybakina was leading 40-15 in the game when play got suspended once more but the Kazakh player came out on top after it resumed, and rallied to win five games in a row in total to seal the victory.

In her third WTA 1000 final of the season Rybakina will face 30th seed Kalinina, after the Ukrainian survived a second-set scare against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in a battling 7-5 5-7 6-2 victory.

Kudermetova started strongly, but the tables quickly turned as the Russian failed to convert eight of her nine break-points in the first set, with her 26-year-old opponent capitalising on her wastefulness to edge ahead in the encounter.

Kalinina broke early in the second set to take a 3-2 lead and appeared on course for a comfortable win, but with her back against the wall Kudermetova mounted a spirited comeback, winning 16 straight points to level the match.

Kalinina headed off for a lengthy bathroom break to regroup before the third set and emerged a player reborn, playing with renewed confidence to win the first four games of the decider en route to sealing a spot in her first WTA 1000 final.