Venus and Muguruza crush semis to reach Wimbledon final
LONDON (Reuters) – Spain’s Garbine Muguruza reached her second Wimbledon final in three years with a thumping 6-1, 6-1 win over Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova on Thursday.
A visibly confident Muguruza needed just 64 minutes to beat the 87th-ranked Rybarikova, who had overcome third seed Karolina Pliskova and American Coco Vanderweghe on her unexpected run to the last four.
Muguruza, who lost to Serena Williams in the 2015 final, will face her sister Venus in Saturday’s showpiece after the American beat Johanna Konta in straight sets.
The Spaniard was up 3-0 after just 10 minutes, her aggressive approach paying dividends against an opponent, who as recently as March was ranked 453rd in the world and who looked nervous in what was the biggest game of her career to date.
“I think I stepped on the court super-confident and I played well,” said Muguruza, who in the absence of her regular coach is being guided at this tournament by Conchita Martinez, the only Spaniard to win the women’s singles title at the All England Club.
The women’s tournament this year has been marked by some fiercely contested and tight battles but this was a disappointingly one-sided affair.
“It was very difficult match for me. I have to say Garbine played an amazing match. I never saw her playing that well,” said Rybarikova.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams became the oldest woman in 23 years to reach a Wimbledon final as she defied her age and a despondent home crowd to inflict a crushing defeat on British hope Johanna Konta.
Eight years after her last Wimbledon final and more than two decades since Martina Navratilova became the last 37-year-old to reach the same stage, Williams produced the sort of attacking performance that led her to five titles in her heyday.
Her 6-4, 6-2 semifinal win over the Britain was a clinical execution and set up a Saturday showdown with Garbine Muguruza, whose own ruthless demolition of Magdalena Rybarikova whetted the appetite for an intriguing final.
It will be Williams’s ninth at Wimbledon and the stage for a potential eighth grand slam crown and having defied the odds to VENUS WILLIAMS (left) and Garbine Muguruza will face off in Saturday’s Wimbledon women’s final, with Williams in search of her 8th Grand Slam title and Muguruza vying for a second following her 2016 French Open crown. reach this point, few would now bet against her.
Konta was looking to become the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon final since Virginia Wade in 1977, but she was crushed as Williams picked her off at crucial points.
The American, who has dropped only one set all tournament, was too strong for her opponent from the baseline and was able to produce booming serves whenever Konta threatened.
“You can play this game for a while if you love it, you put in the work and stay healthy,” Williams, told reporters.