Muguruza drops “all her energy” to get past Simona Halep and reach first AO final

With Wimbledon and French Open already in her trophy case, Garbine Muguruza has one more step to make to add Australian Open to her collection, after she edged Simona Halep in two sets (7/6 7/5) in the semifinals.

The tall Spanish player was simply too good for the hard-working Halep, who bowed down after having the upper hand in many moments throughout the match but failing to make them count in the overall picture. On the other side, Muguruza put her head down and fought admirably for every point.

“I wasn’t thinking that I was down. I was thinking ‘keep going’ and at some point, you’re going to have your opportunity. I knew I was facing Simona, so it was going to be a hard match, so I was hanging there and fighting with all the energy I had,” Muguruza said after booking her place into the final.

On her road to the final, Muguruza crossed out Shelby Rogers, Ajla Tomljanovic, Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and, finally, Simona Halep. Garbine’s performance at the Australian Open is considered a big surprise as she has been struggling to find form most of 2019. 

“You start day-by-day. Very excited to be in the final. You know, it’s a long way to go. I have one more match on Saturday.” the Spaniard explained how she got in the position she stands on now.

Her final obstacle is Sofia Kenin, who upset home crowd favorite and world number one Ashleigh Barty, also with 7/6 7/5.

“Luckily, I have 48 hours now to recover and get ready for the last match. We train all of our careers to be able to play on this court and in this crowd,” Garbine Muguruza declared.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2GHMEEg