Muguruza beats Garcia, to meet Halep in semifinals

Doha: Garbine Muguruza survived a slow start and some serious power hitting by Caroline Garcia of France to book her place in the Qatar Total Open semifinal on Friday.

Fourth seed Muguruza lost the first set 3-6, but came back strongly to win the next two 6-1, 6-4 to win the match that lasted one hour and 54 minutes at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

Former World No.1 Muguruza, who has a French Open and Wimbledon titles in her trophy cabinet, will now take on world No 2 Simona Halep, after the Romanian broke through the defences of American teenager Catherine Bellis in totally contrasting sets, winning 6-0, 6-4.   

Muguruza was ecstatic with her performance.

“I'm happy overall with the match because even though in the first set she (Garcia) played very well, you know, this kind of game and match changes a lot. So I knew that if I keep concentrated and fighting, it could turn it around. And then I also started to play a little bit better, and that helped,” she said.

But it was not that easy for her at the start.

Garcia broke Muguruza in the second game to take a 2-0 lead, and even though the Spaniard came right back at her to level things at 2-2, the Frenchwoman broke again in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead. She closed the set in her next service game when Muguruza’s looped return, which was almost a mishit, sailed wide.

After receiving words of encouragement from her coach Conchita Martinez, Muguruza looked a different player in the second set.

Garcia was briefly in trouble with her very first service game, but she survived two break points before finding a way out.

But Muguruza would eventually break in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead. She broke again to make it 5-1 and sealed it in the next game to take the match into a third set.

Muguruza had found her rhythm and despite Garcia putting up stiff resistance with some power hitting, the Spaniard broke the Frenchwoman to take a crucial 3-2 lead in the decider. Muguruza found herself in trouble in the eighth game, facing three break points, but showed plenty of composure to hold on and before finishing the job in her next service game.

Muguruza said she was looking forward to playing Halep.

“We've played many times together and she's playing well with a lot of confidence, so I look forward for another top match,” she said.

Halep was off to a flying start as Bellis, who sent reigning champions Karolina Pliskova in the round of 16,  looked overawed by the situation.

The 18-year-old put up a fight in the second set and had Halep in all sorts of trouble in the sixth game.

But the Australian Open runner up held on and promptly broke Bellis in the next to take a 4-3 lead. Bellis broke back immediately to make it 4-4 and Halep returned in kind to serve for the match at 5-4. She restored order with a flawless service game and punched the air when a forehand down the line went unanswered.