Garbine Muguruza got her spot in the semifinals set in stone at the Pan Pacific Open Friday night. The Spaniard held Caroline Garcia in straight sets winning 6-2, 6-4 at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.
Both had good wins in the second round with the world number one taking care of Monica Puig in straight sets. Garcia added a second straight match win taking down Kurumi Nara as the second strong player in her home country to be eliminated. Neither Muguruza or Garcia have met before making the two Spanish stars intrigued to face one another in a fight for a semifinal spot. Garcia has lost the last three matches against number one players with every opportunity to change her record.
She opened service with some serious power shots that saw Muguruza swing and miss at them. The world number one responded with similar speed off her forehand serve that Garcia had a slight handle on but in turn also lost on. Both were warmed up to the point where the responses to each other on the rallies were very good. Muguruza came out of the third with the break as her readiness of Garcia’s serves paid off significantly.
Muguruza was all over Garcia to the point where she earned the double break and more along the way. Before the sixth game came to a close, she was on a pace that the French star couldn’t handle leading to Muguruza’s 5-1 rout. Garcia’s last chance came together in the seventh pulling of another victory on serve but still under pressure to hold in the set. The world number one worked her magic on serve standing on two set points before smashing a shot standing in front of the net that brought an end to the set after 29 minutes. She took care of business with eight winners and just four unforced errors.
Though the first game went to deuce between the two players, the Spaniard was the one to come out of it with a victory. Adding a service hold gave the 23-year-old another marginal gap in the score that enabled the frustrations in Garcia who voiced her opinions between points. It assisted her in gaining a victory on serve but didn’t change the tide of control that Muguruza had for herself taking a 3-1 lead in the second set.
The fifth had the French star gripping into her own serve to come out victorious against Muguruza to stay within reach of setting up a break chance to level and overtake. With a slight increase on winners and better answers against the top seed, Garcia managed to get into a three all tie in order to make the seventh game her moment to strike. Muguruza put the breaks on her attempt making her work but faltering on three chances in which the world number one secured the break.
She got to 5-3 in the next game with just one to go to secure a spot in the semis but with Garcia’s serve still dangerous, the path would take a little longer to find the conclusion Muguruza wanted. Garcia put together a service hold in the ninth to stay alive but with the ball back in the hands of the world number one, dictating the end was well in her hands. Muguruza achieved match point where her second attempt saw the ball landing long of the line on Garcia’s returning ending the competition in 1 hour and 21 minutes. “I’m very happy with this match,” Muguruza said during her on court interview. “We never played before so it was difficult and I’m back in a semifinal.” The difficulty would get higher as Saturday would determine whether she faced Caroline Wozniacki or Dominika Cibulkova for a pivotal spot to go for the title in Japan.
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