Garbine Muguruza had a very easy days on the grass courts at the Wimbledon Championships Tuesday. The world number 15 won her quarterfinal match in straight sets against Svetlana Kuznetsova to win 6-3, 6-4 on Court One at the All England Tennis Club. It assured her to return to the top ten in the WTA rankings and one step from reaching the finals of the tournament for a second time in three years.
The Spaniard had been able to deal with the Russian in three of their last four meetings with one of them leading her to a French Open title last season. Though playing her on the grass courts was a first, the 23-year-old had her eyes set on reaching another major final in London with the draw still wide open for anyone. The same could be said for the world number eight after dispatching Agnieszka Radwanska on Manic Monday. The 32-year-old had yet to drop a set in the tournament, making her a dangerous opponent for anyone with a semifinals spot up for grabs.
Both started well in their opening serves but after defending her serve in the third game, Muguruza attacked the Russian to love in the fourth. It led to a grip by the world number 14 who had a commanding 4-1 run on Kuznetsova showing incredible poise so early in the match. The Russian tested her opponent’s strength with a needed victory on serve in the sixth cutting the margin in half.
Muguruza answered her with another solid game winner holding Kuznetsova to a point to gain the chance for the set. The seventh seed stayed in contention showing great winners that surprised the Spaniard with her mix of rhythm. She scored an important love service but remained on the edge of defeat with Muguruza back on serve for the set. She finished a clean set of tennis with added pressure on her shots in the rallies that saw Kuznetsova running after the ball under duress. A final long ball on the backhand handed Muguruza the lead after 32 minutes with a well-rounded serve percentage and plenty of net points assisting her success.
A very important hold for the seventh seed came to start the second set holding Muguruza back from seeking the break. The attempt to go for a break of her own was doused by the 23-year-old who fired a winner away from the Russian to easily capture the advantage point maintaining holds of serve. It came the pace that both followed through the next pair of games with moments of counterattacks from the players. The change arrived in the fifth with Muguruza getting ahead in the score, dealing with Kuznetsova’s fight for control and put her away for the break point.
The world number 15 was inching closer to a match victory opening the gap on Kuznetsova earning another hold in the sixth to add further nerves into the Russian’s game. Her need of holding off Muguruza in the seventh was a critical point to avoid falling into a similar spot like she did in the first. Different strategies were brought in play for the 32-year-old but they weren’t enough to hold back the Spaniard from her ultimate mission.
Kuznetsova fought to stay alive in the ninth and put together a great game holding Muguruza to a single point. The ball was in the Spaniard’s hands to get the job done to reach the semifinals and made good on her serve. The 14th seed fired planned shots across court to take the early 30-0 run. To finish things off with a bang, Muguruza fired off an ace at 106mph before a short rally on match point landed long of the baseline concluding 1 hour and 15 minutes.
“I think I played good,” Muguruza said after the match. I had very clear what I had to do and we played many times together so I’m happy that it worked out.” “I’m trying not to think a lot, just go for it, play my game and the rest is nothing.”
She’ll await the winner between Coco Vandeweghe and Magdalena Rybarikova on Thursday but had an opinion on the next step towards a finals appearance and who she’ll face. “I think the players are here because they are playing well so it doesn’t matter which ranking of who they are because they are playing great.”
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