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Garbine Muguruza made it to her first-ever semifinal at the Australian Open on Wednesday. Fighting through every point, the 26-year-old managed to overcome Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park. She goes into the final four as the only unseeded player left.
The veterans met for the sixth time with Muguruza leading on hard court victories. They last faced off two years ago where the players split wins at Stuttgart on clay that went to the Russian and at Birmingham that went to the Spaniard. With a huge offensive surge, control of her movements on the court and a strong forehand, Muguruza took down the 30th seed. Pavlyuchenkova who had recently scored wins over second seed Karolina Pliskova and 18th seed Angelique Kerber.
The competition in the quarterfinal was fierce with Muguruza letting up enough on serve to allow the Russian force deuce. She didn’t get a chance at a break keeping the serve locked for the Spaniard. Pavlyuchenkova didn’t let the 26-year-old get to that point in the second and proved her power with a break to love in the third. Muguruza broke back right before they returned to serve in the fifth.
The Russian worked the set to her advantage, recording a break of Muguruza in the seventh to return with new balls. Errors came into Pavlyuchenkova’s game in the eight giving the former world number one chances for the break. After three breaks, Muguruza broke back to level at four-all. A hold put her back in front with the forehand battling back the errors and an opportunity to play for the set.
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The 30th seed denied her an early finish putting balls all over the court and got lucky with a net-front lob. An ace that caught the line made it five-all for the Russian, unwilling to give in. Muguruza played the best game of the match blanking Pavlyuchenkova, who was next to force the tiebreak. Instead of getting there, the 30th seed was on the wrong side of the court and committed three double faults that handed Muguruza the set in 56 minutes. The two were nearly even on winners and unforced errors but the late mistakes from Pavlyuchenkova put her in a hole.
Breaks of serve started the second before they went to serve, staying even through four. Muguruza upped the ante on her momentum, winning a comfortable service game in the fifth. She then broke Pavlyuchenkova to love in the sixth. Consolidating it with a hold gave her a 5-2 lead putting the Russian on the edge of elimination. The 29-year-old worked hard to secure the service hold in the eighth but needed her opponent to falter more to press the set deep.
Muguruza didn’t want that to happen, recording a pair of winners for two match points a simple lob put Pavlyuchenkova away completing another terrific performance that took 1 hour and 35 minutes to accomplish.
“I adapted to the circumstances,” Muguruza said after the match. “Sometimes you don’t feel great, but you gotta fight and stay there. The first set was very hard. I think it lasted for about an hour. It was a very important set, and I’m happy that I got it.”
With only a day to prepare, Muguruza will go all-in against Simona Halep in a fight for a spot in the ladies' final.
“I’m happy to play tomorrow, she said when asked about her next opponent. “I’ve known her for quite a long time, it’s gonna be a tough match.”
