Garbine Muguruza beats Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach Wimbledon semis
Spaniard will face Magdalena Rybarikova after she beat Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets
Tuesday 11 July 2017 20:00, UK
Garbine Muguruza powered into the Wimbledon semi-finals with a straight-sets win over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday.
The 2015 finalist produced an impressive display to beat the seventh seed 6-3 6-4 in 75 minutes on Court One.
Muguruza will face Magdalena Rybarikova on Thursday for a place in the final after the world No 87 became the lowest-ranked woman to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for nine years with a 6-3 6-3 win over 24th seed Coco Vandeweghe.
Rybarikova is the lowest-ranked woman to make the semi-finals of any Grand Slam since Angelique Kerber, then the world number 92, at the 2011 US Open.
The 28-year-old had lost in the first round in eight of her previous nine visits to Wimbledon.
Muguruza, meanwhile, was beaten in the 2015 Wimbledon final by Serena Williams and has a golden opportunity to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time while the 23-time major winner is sidelined preparing for the birth of her first child.
Since winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open last year, Muguruza has struggled to return to the top and this is her first major semi-final since that Roland Garros triumph.
"I played good. I'm trying not to think a lot, just go for it and play my game. I'm happy it worked out," said Muguruza. "It seems far away since I last made the final here. I'm a completely different player.
"It means a lot to make the semi-finals again, my breakthrough was here."
The 23-year-old, coached by compatriot and former Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, broke Kuznetsova in the fourth game of the first set, an advantage she never looked like relinquishing.
Kuznetsova, a former French and US Open champion, was in her first Wimbledon quarter-final for 10 years, but the 32-year-old had no answer to Muguruza's searing ground-strokes.
Claiming another break in the fifth game of the second set, Muguruza pressed home her advantage to wrap up the win.
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