Cincinnati Open: Garbine Muguruza sets up semi-final clash with World No.1 Karolina Pliskova

Fourth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza won a lengthy battle against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-2 5-7 7-5 on a hot and windy day on Friday to reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals. Wimbledon champion Muguruza stuck out her tongue in exasperation after finally prevailing in the two hour 45-minute contest between the two grand slam winners.

Playing a day after deadly attacks killed a total of 14 people in Barcelona and the coastal town of Cambrils in Spain, Muguruza wore a white visor with a black ribbon as a tribute. “Barcelona te siento. Barcelona I feel you,” Muguruza wrote on Twitter after the match.

Muguruza next faces world number one Karolina Pliskova, who won back-to-back matches on Friday. The Czech first defeated Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi 6-3 4-6 6-0 in a match postponed by a day because of rain. The top seed then took another step toward successfully defending her title by overpowering former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 in her second match.

Pliskova had 27 winners to Wozniacki’s eight with only 13 unforced errors compared to the sixth-seeded Dane’s 19. Second seed Simona Halep also beat Britain’s Johanna Konta for the first time in an exciting back and forth 6-4 7-6(1) victory.

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