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Garbine Muguruza ended Anett Kontaveit's 12-match winning streak with a 6-4, 6-4 victory on Sunday that propelled her into the semifinals at the WTA Finals. (More Tennis News)
Muguruza, who will be playing in her first semifinals of this tournament since 2015, needed the win to advance to the semifinals at the expense of Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova. Anett Kontaveit was already assured of a spot in the semifinal before her last group-stage match.
Garbine Muguruza avenged a recent loss to Anett Kontaveit, who beat her in just 48 minutes in the Kremlin Cup quarterfinals in Moscow last month.
“I have been improving and found myself, today I knew that it was a must win match and went out to get it”, Muguruza said.
“I had to end Anett´s streak, she was like invincible in the tour and fortunately I did it”.
Garbine Muguruza had an early break and then saved two break points to take the first set against Anett Kontaveit, who never appeared settled in the night match.
“She was not a the top of her game tonight, I could see it, maybe been already qualified to the semifinals had something to do with it”, added Muguruza.
WTA Finals are played in a round-robin format with the top two players from each group advancing.
The semifinals will be played on Tuesday and the final is set for Wednesday at the Centro Panamericano de Tenis in Zapopan.
Karolina Pliskova rallied from a set and a break down to beat Barbora Krejcikova 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the earlier match to maintain a chance of reaching the semifinal, but was eliminated with Garbine Muguruza's win.
“Obviously horrible start, horrible first set. I think was combination of both me not playing really well and (her) playing just amazing,” Pliskova said.
“I´m just proud that I was able to reset and start from zero and find a bit my game, although it was not great.”
French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova finished the singles tournament 0-3, but remains alive in the doubles along with Katerina Siniakova.
“I think I had amazing season. I was doing really well throughout the season and right now it’s very disappointing,” Krejcikova said.
“I really want to do well in doubles with my partner. I´ll just keep going, stay focused.”
WTA Finals are being played in Guadalajara for this year only, with the event scheduled to return to Shenzhen, China in 2022.
