Czech Karolina Pliskova beat the Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza today in the Indian Wells quarterfinals by 7-6 (2) and 7-6 (5) in one hour and 56 minutes.
Pliskova will face Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals, who beat her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2.
“He gave me the last point, so I’m quite happy about it,” acknowledged the winner in her interview at the foot of the track as soon as the crash concluded.
The player thus referred to the double fault committed by the Spanish-Venezuelan at the decisive point of the second sudden death that the match saw.
Muguruza fought and fought until exhaustion, but that courage was not enough for her against the world number three, who was up 4-1 in the first set before suffering the first of the great reactions that the Spanish signed throughout the shock.
So much so that the one born in Caracas turned the situation around (5-6) before Pliskova broke her serve. In the “tie-break”, the Czech was a gale and took its toll on the mistakes of her opponent.
Another example of Muguruza’s effort came in the second heat, where he saved seven break balls in the opening game and managed to put another face on the crash after being 5-2 down. First he saved two match balls with 5-4 against him and there he showed all the claw and faith that he carries within him to send the set back to sudden death.
Finally, on the third occasion that the Czech had to finish the duel, she did so by taking advantage of the error in Muguruza’s service, who, however, says goodbye to Indian Wells after reaping her best performance in the tournament by previously winning at Kirsten Flipkens, Kayla Day, and Elina Svitolina.
Pliskova, meanwhile, equals her best in Indian Wells, where she was already a semi-finalist last year (she lost to Victoria Azarenka), and records her best result in a Premier Mandatory tournament.
The two tennis players have met seven times, dominating the Czech 6-1. The only victory for the Spanish was in her first match, at Roland Garros 2013. EFE
Pliskova will face Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals, who beat her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2.
“He gave me the last point, so I’m quite happy about it,” acknowledged the winner in her interview at the foot of the track as soon as the crash concluded.
The player thus referred to the double fault committed by the Spanish-Venezuelan at the decisive point of the second sudden death that the match saw.
Muguruza fought and fought until exhaustion, but that courage was not enough for her against the world number three, who was up 4-1 in the first set before suffering the first of the great reactions that the Spanish signed throughout the shock.
So much so that the one born in Caracas turned the situation around (5-6) before Pliskova broke her serve. In the “tie-break”, the Czech was a gale and took its toll on the mistakes of her opponent.
Another example of Muguruza’s effort came in the second heat, where he saved seven break balls in the opening game and managed to put another face on the crash after being 5-2 down. First he saved two match balls with 5-4 against him and there he showed all the claw and faith that he carries within him to send the set back to sudden death.
Finally, on the third occasion that the Czech had to finish the duel, she did so by taking advantage of the error in Muguruza’s service, who, however, says goodbye to Indian Wells after reaping her best performance in the tournament by previously winning at Kirsten Flipkens, Kayla Day, and Elina Svitolina.
Pliskova, meanwhile, equals her best in Indian Wells, where she was already a semi-finalist last year (she lost to Victoria Azarenka), and records her best result in a Premier Mandatory tournament.
The two tennis players have met seven times, dominating the Czech 6-1. The only victory for the Spanish was in her first match, at Roland Garros 2013. EFE