The lowest seed left in the draw, 15th seed Karolina Pliskova, was up against Garbiñe Muguruza. This was their fourth meeting and the Czech holds a slender 2-1 lead in the head-to-head record. The Spaniard had been impressive all week having yet to lose a set while Pliskova was going strong as well with just the one set lost in her previous round.
With a spot in the finals waiting for either of them, it was Pliskova stamping her authority with her serving game. Muguruza looked lost and struggled with her serves as the Czech stormed to take the first set. The Spaniard, despite going up a break in the second set, was still not finding her groove and Pliskova dictated the play to clinch a 6-1, 6-3 straight sets victory.
Pliskova breezes through the first set
It was a set of struggles for Muguruza who never really got it going. Besides the first game, the rest of her service games saw her having difficulty getting first serves in. And as a result, she couldn’t find her rhythm and errors gave Pliskova the first break in the third game for a 2-1 lead.
The Czech, on the other hand, was solid on her serves only faltering slightly in the fourth game. However, it was her serves which came to her aid helping her fend off a couple of break points for a 3-1 advantage. Pliskova never looked back as she eased through her games.
Not only was she consistent in her service games, the Czech was also bothering the Spaniard with her deep returns and was always looking to attack her second serves. That pressure paid off for Pliskova and helped by Muguruza’s double faults, earned the double break to go 4-1 up. The Czech was firmly in the driver’s seat and she found the break once more to take the first set 6-1.
Muguruza unable to hold onto lead as Pliskova fires away to seal victory
Muguruza came out swinging in the second set but it was a confident hold of serve for the Czech. The Spaniard tried to be more aggressive and looked to approach to the net more often. It eventually worked as Muguruza broke Pliskova’s serves for the first time in the fifth game to edge 3-2.
The fourth seed though was unable to hang on to the lead as the Czech hit back with some glorious shots to even the set 3-3. From there on, Pliskova picked up her level hammering winners while more errors flew off the Spaniard’s racket.
The Czech set up break point in the eighth game with another sumptuous forehand winner. Muguruza’s shot sailed wide as Pliskova extended her lead to 5-3. And with 59 minutes on the clock, the Czech converted her first of two match points with a huge serve to seal the victory.
