World Number 4 and number 3 seed Garbine Muguruza has become the first player to secure a spot in the semifinals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome after beating Timea Bacsinszky 7-5 6-2 in the first quarter final. Muguruza will take on either Madison Keys or Barbora Strykova.
Muguruza had to face a break point in the 14-point first game. The Spanish player earned three break points but failed to convert them. The opening set went on serve until the seventh game when Bacsinszky went 15-40. Muguruza saved the first break point chance but Bacsinszky converted her second chance to 30 to take a 4-3. Muguruza broke straight back to 30 to draw level to 4-4 and consolidated her break by holding her service game for 5-4. The Spanish player of Venezuelan origin held her serve at 5-5 before getting another break on her third set point after a long 12th game to win the first set 7-5 in 74 minutes. Muguruza has qualified for her first semifinal since the 2015 WTA Finals in Singapore
In the third game of the second set Bacsinszky did not convert her two break point chances. Both players went on serve until the sixth game when Muguruza broke serve to 30. She got the double break to win her fourth consecutive game at deuce in the 8th game for 6-2.
Muguruza has advanced to her first semifinal in 2016 without dropping a set in the whole tournament. Earlier this week Muguruza hit 20 winners to just 5 unforced errors en route to a dominant 6-1 6-0 win over Ekaterina Makarova in just 47 minutes before beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-1 6-4 in the third round.
Bacsinszky won her first two matches against Yanina Wickmayer and Lesia Tsurenko before clinching a hard-fought 5-7 7-5 6-2 win over Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round.
Muguruza has extended her win-loss record to 4-0 in their head-to-head matches. All their previous three matches were played in 2015. Muguruza prevailed in three sets at the Australian Open and in straight sets at Wimbledon and Beijing.
