Muguruza reaches the semi-finals in Dubai for the third time

Garbiñe Muguruza continues with the ascending line shown this season. Eight days after their duel in the Doha WTA 500, the caraqueña saw their faces again with Aryna Sabalenka, whom he has already beaten in three disputed sets. Things in the third match between the two were not different, with a sensational triumph for the Venezuelan-Spanish in the Dubai WTA 1000 after flipping an adverse set: 3-6, 6-3 and 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes. Conchita Martínez's pupil will be measured this Friday with Elise mertens (14:00, TDP) for a place in the final.

The match was a power-to-power struggle from the start, with two real hitters from the back of the court. Long exchanges were conspicuous by their absence since the style of both lives on the edge of error. It was the Spanish-Venezuelan who had the first options for breaking, but the Belarusian managed to get out of the quagmire. It did not affect Garbiñe mentally, who the next game closed his serve blank. Who did not miss his first break option was Sabalenka, midway through the first set, with a Mugu's unforced error confirmed by the hawk's eye. The Minsk tennis player, despite having a meager income, relied on good services to sign up for the set.

After losing his first set in the tournament, Garbiñe lost ground and confidence for a few minutes. Sabalenka, on the other hand, was thrown to the other side of the net, especially with a backhand that was a real cannon. But the inconsistency of the women's circuit made an appearance one more day. After a exchange of breaks, Muguruza gave a script twist to the match in your favor at every point. The result: four consecutive games and despair of Sabalenka (hitting the racket included) that made him deliver the set.

The last set showed the doubts of both. Garbiñe started with a break in favor, but quickly delivered his serve with a double fault. The final turning point came in the fifth game, with a break that the Spanish would not miss thanks to her solidity with the serve (she finished with 7 aces) and from the back of the court. Mugu reaches the semi-finals in Dubai for the third time, ensuring it rises to position 14th in the ranking, overtaking Swiatek and Azarenka. As if that were not enough, his second consecutive win against the Belarusian (2-1 in favor in the head-to-head) allows him to balance his annual balance against top-10 rivals: victories against Sabalenka and Kenin and losses to Barty, Osaka and Kvitova. Garbiñe goes for everything …

Table and results.

Muguruza: “I must play at my best against Mertens”

Following their qualification to the semi-finals of the Dubai WTA 1000, Muguruza analyzed his performance against Sabalenka at a press conference, in addition to her next rival, the Belgian Elise Mertens.

Semifinals: “I have to play at my best level. She is playing very well. We haven't played much so it will be a good match. She is very talented, different from today's match. I just have to adapt to a different tennis and play well.”

Sabalenka: “I felt like she came out a lot more aggressive at the beginning of the game than the last time we played. Playing faster, serving hard, and I struggled early to find my shots, my game. She broke my fast serve and got 6-3. So what I tried was to be more aggressive. “

Key code: “If you have someone in front of you who wants to win the point in two strokes, you have to try to overcome him and impose your dominance. So then I began to notice that everything had leveled off, that I was more on the points. In the first set I felt like I was. going too fast. And in the third I wanted to continue to maintain the level, not to be the one who ran, but to dominate.