Seed No.9 Garbiñe Muguruza extended her brilliant run of form in the Middle East on Thursday, while battling past No.3 seed Aryna Sabalenka, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to semifinals Tennis Tournaments Free to reach Dubai.
Muguruza defeated Sabalenka for the second time in two weeks, when the former World No.1 defeated Belarus on the way to the Qatar Total Open final last week. Muguruza needed an hour and 44 minutes to reach the repeat feat and the semifinals in Dubai for the third time in his career (also in 2015 and 2018).
“I felt like she came out today more aggressive than our last game in Doha,” Muguruza said. “I felt like she wanted to play more aggressively. , faster, served great, and I was struggling to find my pictures, my game, and she quickly broke me with the service and I took [the first set].
“But then I tried to be more aggressive as well. If there’s someone in front of you who’s trying to win the point in a scene or two, you have to be faster and stronger, and so on. I tried to be the upper hand after that. Everything was the same. I felt more in the points. “
Muguruza, still looking for her first trip to the Dubai final, picked up her 16th game of the season by shooting 23 winners, knocking out her 20 non-critical errors, and changing five of her 11 rest points.
Sabalenka had 26 winners but saw her non-critical error count up as the game progressed, and she finished with 34 errors.
Sabalenka saved two break points in the first game of the game, and would not face that again for the rest of the first set. Sabalenka grabbed the same break of the opening frame at 3-1, then gave power smoothly on the way to the one-set lead, clinching it with a winning overhead.
Muguruza fell behind a break in the opening game of the second set, but halted the move from there, easily blasting stunning results to Sabalenka’s next two game games and a 3-3 move. 1. Muguruza had no trouble with her service matches for the rest of the set, leveling the pitch at one set with a love grip.
Muguruza refused to yield in the decision, and, after an early exchange of breakdowns, her servants are strong and maintain either her perfect wins or she regularly drew errors from Sabalenka’s racquet. . A two-break lead for 5-2 gave Muguruza strong control, and she closed the game with another service catch at the love affair to beat Sabalenka once again.
Waiting for Muguruza in the semifinals will be Sabalenka double partner Elise Mertens. Mertens seeds No.10 he saved three maids points before overtaking Jessica Pegula in an earlier quarter.
In the nightcap game, Jil Teichmann finished the semifinal line with a straight 6-3, 6-3 victory over American teenager Coco Gauff.
This was already the third meeting this season between Teichmann and Gauff; Teichmann had in fact lost her first two games of the year to Gauff, dropping to the 16-year-old in the first round of the Gippsland Cup and the Australian Open.
Since then, however, Teichmann has gone 10-2, making the quarter-finals or better in her last three rounds, and noting her second straight semifinal display with her her first win over Gauff in 73 minutes.
Teichmann did not face a resting place in the opening frame, and grabbed the important service break to lead 5-3 after a net advance with Gauff. Teichmann kept a love of claiming the one-set direction and put Gauff on the back leg.
A break in the first game of the second set gave Teichmann an extra move, and the Swiss player stood all three break points of the game before grabbing a hard-fought service grip for 3-1. Teichmann broke into attendance once again to close out the game and reach the first WTA 1000 semifinal of her career.
Next up for Teichmann will be Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals, promising a seedless finisher this week in Dubai.