This year’s US Open finalist Roberta Vinci followed up her impressive win over Petra Kvitova with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 victory over number 8 seed Karolina Pliskova. Vinci has won ten of her last eleven matches including her sensational win over Serena Williams in the US Open semifinal. With that historic win Vinci put an end to Serena’s dream to become the first woman to win all four Grand Slam titles in one year since Steffi Graf in 1988.
In the first half of the season Vinci had a record of 21 match wins and 20 defeats but has enjoyed an impressive period of form since the US Open losing only the al-Italian Flushing Meadows final against her friend Flavia Pennetta
Vinci broke serve in the third game to take a 3-1 lead but Pliskova broke back in the sixth game on her fourth break point chance. In the seventh game Vinci went up 0-40 on Pliskova’s serve but did not convert it. Both players went on serve until the tie-break. Vinci got an early mini-break as Pliskova made a forehand error. Vinci earned four set points and sealed the win with 7-2 as Pliskova made a double fault.
Vinci raced out to 3-0 in the second set and never looked back. She never faced any break point chances. The rest of the second set went on serve until Vinci served out for the match for 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 to reach her first Premier 5 semifinal. Vinci will face the winner of the quarter final between Venus Williams and Johanna Konta
Pliskova produced more winners than Vinci (26 to 21) but the Italian made less unforced errors (14 to 30)
“Today was another tough match. Karolina plays so good and so flat, so for me it was difficult especially at the beginning. But I served well and I am really happy I am in the semifinals here in Wuhan for the first time. It’s incredible here. It’s a nice city and a nice court. It’s just really exciting for me”, said Vinci.
This year’s Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza booked her berth in the semifinal with a 6-2 6-2 win over Ana Karolina Schmiedlova in just one hour and 12 minutes in a match between two of the most promising rising stars on the WTA Tour. Thanks to this win Muguruza is close to breaking into the top-5. If the Spanish player wins the Wuhan title, she could become number 4.
Muguruza converted on five of her seven break point chances and hit 19 winners to Schmiedlova’s just 3.
Earlier this week Muguruza has produced her two best wins since her Wimbledon final beating Sloane Stephens 6-2 6-0 and Ana Ivanovic 4-6 6-1 6-0
“It was a great match for me. You don’t play at this level every day, so for me it was great to be playing like this. I want to keep focusing in every match and trying to play at this level. That way every time you leave the court, you’ll be happy with your effort”, said Muguruza
Schmiedlova played in her 8th quarter final in 2015. Earlier this week she scored one of her biggest wins beating Caroline Wozniacki 7-6 in the third set after coming back from 1-6 1-4 down in the first two sets. . She followed up her win over Wozniacki with a 6-4 6-2 win over Kristina Mladenovic.
Diego Sampaolo
