Garbine Muguruza’s first appearance in Grand Slam semifinals was highly successful, as the 21-year-old Spaniard cruised through the first part of the match and then kept composure when her opponent Agnieszka Radwanska made a real comeback threat, winning all the games from being 3-1 down in the second set and starting the decider with a service break. However, the young Muguruza stayed strong, kept her shots impressive and prevailed 6-2 3-6 6-3 to make the final of Wimbledon. A rise from the current ranking of No.20 to a new career-high of No.9 is now ensured for Muguruza, while if she wins the title she could potentially climb to No.6.
In the other Thursday’s semifinal at Wimbledon, Maria Sharapova continued her immense inferiority to Serena Williams, falling to the mighty American in straight sets, 6-2 6-4. This defeat has now increased the count of Sharapova’s consecutive losses to Williams to 17! Ouch!
Interestingly, Serena’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou doesn’t think that Sharapova has developed extreme self-consciousness when facing Serena, rather, he simply believes that Serena has a better game:
She does not have a mental block against Serena. Serena simply plays tennis much better than she does. For me, Azarenka is much better than Sharapova. There’s no discussion. Sharapova is a great champion. She has great qualities. She fights incredibly and has tremendous mental strength. But at some stage, her level of play hits a ceiling.
Muguruza is still paving her path towards becoming a WTA great, but she does have a victory over Serena, having beaten her in the second round of the 2014 French Open in straight sets. Serena defeated Muguruza twice, including once after that big upset. Interestingly, all these three meetings happened at Grand Slams — one at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. Let’s see what will happen at Wimbledon! (photos: Jimmie48)
This is the final I had hoped for and we got It. Thank god gabie made it to final and now she’ll be in top 10 😀 yay me!! I was really impressed with the way she started the match she was not at all nervous. but let’s just hope she doesn’t have the slump she had in mid 2nd set against serena. I’m sure she’ll return serena’s serves better than maria. Also I agree what patrick has said but I do believe maria has has developed extreme self-consciousness when facing Serena. Losses like AO 07 final, Miami 07, Olympics 12 def made an impact on her brain she doesn’t swing freely against serena at all. I guess when u are that intimidated by someone it’s very hard to fight against them
Serena reaches the Wimbledon final after beating Sharpova in the semi finals, yes, once again!
It’s not going to be hard for the Tennis Queen Serena to win the Championship in the final.
I had Garbi pegged for the top 10 , too in the first of the year predictions. Somehow don’t think my predictions of Tony Romo and Michelle Wie in the top ten will hold much water, though!
I would have loved to see a rematch from Aga vs Serena but Garbi really played well. She is clearly the underdog on this year’s Wimbledon tournament. I want her to win. I know she has a chance to win. Serena is chasing her second “Serena Slam” so it will be very difficult. Both are deserving winners of this year’s tournament.
Betting Runner, I concur. There’s no one who can even compete with or stop Serena. She just gets better and better with age. It’s truly amazing how she wraps rings around all the female players on tour, even the young ones. They may as well bow down to the Queen and keep hoping for a better day against her. Garbine was up against a 5-time Wimbledon champion, knownl as the GOAT, so she did the best that she could in the final. I’m glad to see she made it the final, but like Martina Navratilova and Brad Gilbert, I knew she wouldn’t win the championship. She gave a gutsy performance, though. I find it very interesting that Serena Wms. is the only player who can consistently stomps Maria Sharapova. Why can’t the other ladies beat Maria? I can see Garbine M. being next in line to successfully do that, if and when Serena retires. Of course, that’s a long way away. I also believe Garbine M. and Heather Watson will win a major before Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens. “Go, Serena, go! Congrats on your non-calendar “Serena slam”, and your calendar slam is on the way.”