Garbine Muguruza, who is currently fifth in the Road to Singapore, beat Angelique Kerber 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in the second semifinal of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open setting up a final against Venus Williams. With this win the Spanish player has closed in on a spot for the WTA Finals in Singapore. A win in Saturday’s final over Williams would secure her berth for the end-of season tournament with the top-eight players in the world
Earlier this year Muguruza and Kerber met three times. Kerber won last January in Sydney, while Muguruza claimed the most important head-to-head matches at the Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Earlier this week Muguruza swept aside Sloane Stephens with 6-2 6-0 before coming back from a set down to beat Ana Ivanovic 4-6 6-1 6-0 and securing a spot in the semifinal with a 6-2 6-2 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Kerber, who is currently seventh in the Road to Singapore, is close to securing her spot for the WTA Finals. She qualified for the semifinal with a three-set win over Jelena Jankovic before beating Camila Giorgi and Coco Wandeweghe in straight sets.
Muguruza broke serve in the third game of the first set but was broken back in the next game. Muguruza did not convert on a couple of break points in the fifth game but she broke serve two games later en route to winning the first set with 6-4.
This year’s Wimbledon finalist went up a break early in the second set but she was broken back in the fourth game. Muguruza broke again and served for the match at 5-4 but she dropped serve in the next game.
The Spanish player got another break and served for the match again but she did not convert her match point. The second set came down to the tie-break where Muguruza called a medical time-out at 3-3 to treat a problem on her left foot. Kerber got a mini-break and took a 5-3 lead but Muguruza rallied by winning four consecutive points to win a dramatic tie-break with 7-5 setting up the final against Venus Williams
“It was a really tough match and I had to struggle today. Venus is a legend. I will have to go out there and do my best to win against her and I think it’s going to be a great final”, said Muguruza
Diego Sampaolo
