|
Muguruza ended Kontaveit's 12-match winning streak with a 6-4
6-4 win over the Estonian, booking a spot in the knockout stage
for the first time since her tournament debut in 2015.
Muguruza won a remarkable 80% of her first serve points and
fired seven aces in Sunday's victory as she finished second in
the "Teotihuacan Group" behind Kontaveit, with both posting a
2-1 record.
"Today was a match that was kind of everything or nothing,"
Muguruza told reporters. "Starting the round-robin with a loss,
it was never good. To finally get two wins and qualify was
amazing."
Two-time Grand Slam champion Muguruza will face compatriot Paula
Badosa in Tuesday's semi-final. The winner of the contest will
be the first Spanish woman to reach the final since Arantxa
Sanchez Vicario finished runner-up in 1993.
"I didn't know all of this history," Muguruza said. "1993, I was
born that year.
"It's amazing that there are four players left and two of them
are Spaniards. That just shows that Spain has a great level of
tennis."
Earlier, Pliskova came out on top in an all-Czech showdown,
storming back to stun compatriot Krejcikova 0-6 6-4 6-4.
Despite the win, Pliskova failed to reach the semi-finals as she
finished third in the group, with Kontaveit and Muguruza
advancing as the top two. Second-seeded Krejcikova ended bottom
after losing all three matches.
The WTA Finals divides the top eight players into two groups of
four, with each player competing in three matches. The top two
from each group advance to the semi-finals.
"The first game was super long and I somehow lost my focus and
of course I was a bit nervous to play a Czech woman," Pliskova
said after the match.
"It wasn't easy at all, at some point I thought it is almost
over in the second when she broke me to go up 4-2. I am proud
that I kind of stayed there and fought for it."
Having never taken a set off Pliskova in two career meetings,
Krejcikova quickly took care of that little bit of business with
the French Open champion steamrolling through the opener in just
26 minutes.
Pliskova committed 12 unforced errors in the opening set but the
former world number one steadied herself in the second. She
still found herself in a hole when Krejcikova grabbed an early
break on her way to a 4-2 lead.
With her opponent on the ropes, Krejcikova could not deliver the
knockout blow as Pliskova dug deep sweeping the next four games
to level the contest.
Pliskova's powerful serves and pinpoint forehands helped her
fend off break points at 2-2 and 4-4 before she completed her
comeback in a closely contested decider.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto and Manasi Pathak in
Bengaluru, Editing by Christian Radnedge, Robert Birsel)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
