Muguruza enters semis

Tokyo, September 22 

World number one Garbine Muguruza put on a clinical display to power past Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-4 in the Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals in Tokyo today. 

The 23-year-old Wimbledon champion, who climbed to the top of the WTA rankings on Monday, hardly broke sweat against the Frenchwoman, ranked 20th in the world, on her way to victory in an hour and 20 minutes.

Muguruza took a 2-1 lead in the first set after an 

early break and continued to dominate until midway through the second, nullifying Garcia’s serve twice more as she looked to close out the contest quickly.

Garcia, however, staged a mini-revival when she converted her only break-point opportunity in the sixth game of the second but the Spaniard regained control of the contest with another break in the very next game.

The 2016 French Open winner will face either defending champion Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in the last four.

Kerber edges out Pliskova   

Earlier, Germany’s Angelique Kerber won a battle of former world number ones against Karolina Pliskova 7-6(5) 7-5 to set up a semifinal clash against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The two-time grand slam champion, who defeated her Czech opponent in their last meeting at the 2016 US Open final, converted her fifth match point to register a first 

win over a top-20 player this season. “It’s always tough to play against (Pliskova), so I was trying to focus on my game. I think I played a good match today,” Kerber said after the match.

Nimble on her feet, Kerber put immense pressure on Pliskova’s serve but failed to convert 12 of her 13 break-point opportunities. She did, however, hold her nerve during the first set tie-break to edge ahead and then broke in the 12th game of the second set to seal a spot in the semis.

Russian Pavlyuchenkova defeated Czech Barbora Strycova, 5-7 6-3 6-1 to advance to the semi-finals. — Reuters