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Despite her defeat, the 31-year-old Kuznetsova still won the
White Group after round robin wins over defending champion
Agnieszka Radwanska and Karolina Pliskova, the Russian advancing
to face Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday's semi-finals.
Poland's Radwanska and big-hitting Czech Pliskova meet in the
group finale later on Friday with the winner going on to face
world number one Angelique Kerber in the second semi-final.
Kuznetsova started her previous two matches slowly but she was
quick out of the blocks against Muguruza, breaking the Spaniard
in the third game to move ahead before she repeated the feat in
the ninth to wrap up the opener in 29 minutes.
The Russian had been fairly untroubled on her serve, not even
taken to deuce in the opener, but her radar was off target at
the start of the second set when a second double fault gifted
Muguruza a break in the first game.
The French Open champion was suddenly back in the contest as
Kuznetsova appeared to lose her range and focus, the tall
Spaniard breaking twice more while holding comfortably to race
through the set without dropping a game.
Muguruza carried the momentum into the decider, breaking
immediately and staving off seven break points as Kuznetsova ran
out of steam and her opponent ran away with the contest, the
23-year-old winning 11 of the last 12 games to seal victory.
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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