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Muguruza storms into final
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza thrashed unseeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova to set up a Wimbledon final against five-time champion Venus Williams of the US.
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London
Muguruza, 23, won 6-1, 6-1 in just 64 minutes on Centre Court to advance to her second Wimbledon final. The 2016 French Open champion will try to win her second major title in Saturday’s final. Venus Williams was in superlative form against Britain’s Johanna Konta in the second semi-final, winning 6-4, 6-2.
Muguruza strode onto Centre Court with heavy strapping on her left thigh, but appeared anything but restricted as she reeled off the first five games in 25 minutes. Rybarikova, ranked 87th, went into the match with an 18-1 record on grass this season but the 28-year-old appeared nervous in her first Grand Slam semi-final.
Rybarikova had been the great underdog story of these Championships. After two separate bouts of surgery on her wrist and knee, the 28-year-old had dropped to 453 in the rankings in March. Her record at the All England Club includes seven consecutive firstround exits.
Yet somehow the Slovakian World No 87 dispatched tournament favourite Karolina Pliskova to become the lowest ranked player to reach the semi-finals in nine years. No wonder she described it as a “fairytale”. This is where reality intervened with brutal, crushing effect.
Rybarikova was overawed and overwhelmed. Her serve was broken five times. Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion, was a suffocating presence throughout whether through the power of her baseline hitting or by coming to the net.
So lithe and slight, Rybarikova was simply blown away by Muguruza, A sympathetic round of applause greeted her first game at 5-1 down. Rybarikova won just 10 points on serve in the entire set as Muguruza attacked off the return and was confident enough to dominate from the net.
When Muguruza crushed a backhand winner off a 79mph second serve to lead 3-0 with a double break in the second set, Rybarikova was reeling. There was more appreciation from the crowd when Rybarikova held on in a long service game to get on the scoreboard for just a second time, but Muruguza was in ruthless mood and confidently served out the match.
In a tight contest between two of the best servers in the game, Williams worked her way to victory with smarter serving and more effective returns. The American, playing her 20th Wimbledon, showed all her experience to edge out Konta and end British hopes in this year’s singles events. “I’ve played a lot of finals here,” Williams said after the mat ch. “One more win will be amazing. It won’t be a given but I’ll give it my all.”
Tricky match, tricky player: Muguruza
Garbine Muguruza said she was confident of victory against Rybarikova but admitted her opponent was a tricky customer. “I played very well, for sure. It was a tricky match - she’s a very tricky player and was playing very well throughout the tournament,” said Muguruza. “But I was super confident and played well. Once you’re in this situation you know how to deal with it. “I don’t even remember how I felt at last year’s French Open (where she won the title),” recalled Muguruza. “I just think that I’m playing well and want to keep it that way. I’m going to enjoy being in another grand slam final, and want to win whoever I play. Think it will be a great final whoever I play.”
Mixed luck for India
Sania Mirza crashed out of the mixed doubles competition while Rohan Bopanna and his partner entered the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships here. Sania and her Croatian partner Ivan Dodig, seeded fourth in the tournament, lost 6-7 4-6 to the defending champions Henri Kontinen of Finland and Heather Watson of United Kingdom in a third round match that lasted 53 minutes. Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, seeded 10th, got the better of the Croatian pair of Nikola Mektic and Ana Konjuh 7-6 6-2 in a 59-minute third round match and advanced to the last eight stage of the tournament. Bopanna and Dabrowski will face the duo of Kontinen and Watson in the quarterfinals.
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