Spain’s Garbine Muguruza defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Qatar Open where she will fac...
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Qatar Open where she will face former fellow world No 1 and two-time Major winner Victoria Azarenka.
Muguruza was a force to be reckoned with throughout, calmly applying pressure to her rival who could not contend with her power and precision with the Spaniard hitting four aces. She quickly went ahead 4-0 in the first set and finished without dropping serve, although having to overcome break points in the last game before prevailing.
“I’m happy, I felt good on court,” former Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion Muguruza said after her victory. “So far I’m happy to be back, trying to get closer and closer (to the final).”
Azarenka, a two-time winner of the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, reached the last four by seeing off Ukrainian top seed Elina Svitolina, 6-2, 6-4.
“Every match is hard, it’s always difficult,” added Muguruza as she looked ahead to her clash with Azarenka.
Muguruza knocked defending champion Aryna Sabalenka out of the tournament on Wednesday in a three-set marathon.
On Thursday, it was a deft backhand that took Muguruza, the 2018 Doha runner-up, to match point within 70 minutes.
Belarus’ Azarenka improved to 4-0 against Ukraine’s Svitolina with an...
