Muguruza beats Venus to reach Italian Open semis

[May 20, 2017]  (Reuters) - Garbine Muguruza flashed some impressive form ahead of her French Open title defense with a 6-2 3-6 6-2 win over Venus Williams on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open in Rome.

The Spanish third seed, who reached the Rome semi-finals last year before going on to win her sole career grand slam, will next face eighth seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who earlier upset Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2 7-6(9).

Muguruza used a solid forehand to power through the first set during which she hit just eight unforced errors but gave up 20 in the second as Williams forced a decider.

The Spaniard fell behind in the third set before responding immediately with a break. She clinched the match when seven-times grand slam champion Williams sent a forehand wide.

With the win, world number seven Muguruza will return to the top five in the rankings and be guaranteed a top-four seeding at Roland Garros for the year's second grand slam.

In other action, Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep swept into the semi-finals of the Italian Open in Rome by beating Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-2 6-4 on Friday.

She will now play Dutch 15th seed Kiki Bertens, who saw off Australian qualifier Daria Gavrilova 6-3 6-3, in Saturday's semi-final on the red Foro Italico clay.

Muguruza of Spain returns the ball. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

"Today was a good match, but I can say that I could finish earlier in the second set," said Halep, who raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke Kontaveit in the opening game of the second before winning.

"But she turned it a little bit around ... she came back for a few games, and she played really, really well."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London; Additional reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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