By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, July 9, 2015
Garbine Muguruza overcame a six-game slide mid-match to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and surge into her first Wimbledon final.
Photo credit: Wimbledon; CameraSport/Stephen White
Garbine Muguruza entered this fortnight with one victory on the grass-court stage that can expose growing pains. The 20-year-old Muguruza came of age today, mastering her nerves and a crafty opponent, with a bold performance that put her one win from the Wimbledon title.
Playing with purpose at critical stages, Muguruza overcame a six-game slide with a powerful close completing an inspired 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska to surge into the Wimbledon final.
"I'm happy. I worked all my life to achieve this moment," the smiling 20-year-old told the BBC afterward. "I was pretty nervous in the second set. Radwanska has a lot of experience. So [I] just fight."
The 20th-seeded Spaniard will play world No. 1 Serena Williams in Saturday's final that could be a fierce ground battle.
Continuing her quest for the Serena Slam, Williams was in cruise control dismissing 2004 Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova, 6-2, 6-4, in the second semifinal. The top seed did not face a break point scoring her 17th consecutive win over the Russian, sending her packing with a consoling pat on the back after giving her yet another thumping on court. Williams has won 34 of the last 37 sets she's played against Sharapova.
Muguruza stands between Williams and her sixth Rosewater Dish. History is on the line: If Williams wins, she will complete her second Serena Slam, holding all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously, and arrive in New York bidding to join Margaret Court and Steffi Graf as the third woman in the Open Era to capture the calendar Grand Slam.
Williams has beaten the Spaniard in two of three meetings. Muguruza thrashed the top seed at the 2014 Roland Garros before the 33-year-old American answered with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory en route to her 19th Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open last winter.
"It's going to be a dream — I'm in the final of Wimbledon — but I really want to win this tournament so I must concentrate for the next one," said Muguruza, who is the first Spanish woman since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1996 to reach the final.
It was a match of sharp momentum shifts — Muguruza won nine of the first 12 games, Radwanska regrouped to reel off six straight games — and climaxed with a wild run to the finish line. The final games featured pulsating all-court exchanges, buzzing drives down the line, a couple of foot fault calls, two break points in the final game and Radwanska's dreadful decision to challenge a ball on the line, giving Muguruza match point.
Showing no jitters in her first Grand Slam semifinal, Muguruza took the offensive from the outset in a dream start. Her game plan was clear: Dictate rallies hammering heavy shots into the corners, step in and drive the kill shot down the line. She cranked a forcing forehand to break in the opener. Muguruza backed up the break for 2-0.
The 2012 finalist saved a break point with a deep second serve, slid an ace down the middle and danced forward blocking a forehand volley winner to hold. Staring down triple break point in her next service game, Radwanska tried to shovel a low slice forehand into the frontcourt. She found the net instead, digging herself a 1-4 hole.
The degree of difficulty Radwanska faced was evident in the longest rally of the set. A crackling forehand crosscourt exchange escalated until Muguruza stepped in and slashed a razor-sharp forehand down the line. Radwanska made the right play trying to extend the bigger hitter in rallies, but was still scarred. Flattening her drives out beautifully, Muguruza held at 15 for 5-1.
Serving for the set, Muguruza drove another clean forehand down the line. The 6-foot-Spaniard snapped off a serve winner to close the 34-minute opener. Muguruza won 12 of 13 points played on her first serve, did not face a break point and rapped 12 winners, quadrupling the former world No. 2 in that category.
Shrewd point construction is a Radwanska asset, but it's tough to build points when you're getting blown backward by a heavy hitter. Muguruza broke to open the second set and whipped the wide serve followed by dagger down the line to consolidate.
Counter-strike tennis wasn't working so Radwanska came forward to cap a vital hold for 1-2. Thumping an ace down the middle followed by another blast down the T, Muguruza replied with a love hold for 3-1. Down 15-30 in the next game, Radwanska righted herself, navigating the crisis for a hard-fought hold that sparked her comeback as her opponent tightened a bit.
Rhythmic clapping from the crowd eager to see a competitive match erupted when Radwanska reached 0-30 on the Spaniard's serve. Radwanska answered the call, drawing successive errors into net to earn her first break and backed it up for her first lead of the day, 4-3. Radwanska broke with a smash. Wrong-footing her opponent with a backhand behind her, Radwanska drew a wild forehand, reeling off her fifth game in a row to level the match.
Transition tennis helped Radwanska turn it around: She won five of seven net trips in the second set and left the first-time semifinalist reeling.
Muguruza whizzed an ace wide to save a break point, but sailed a forehand as Radwanska stretched her streak to six games breaking to open the third set. Desperately needing to stop the rot, Muguruza blasted a backhand crosscourt for triple break point. A scalding return rattled Radwanska's stick, creating the break. Showing soft hands and a mischievious mind, Radwanska created such an acute angle off a backhand drop shot it looked like the ball might pull a U-Turn around the net post. Audacious finesse punctuated a love hold. Muguruza plastered the baseline with a backhand down the line, edging ahead 3-2.
Pouncing on a floater, Muguruza belted a backhand swing volley for break points. Then the Spaniard dug out a running lob looping it inside the baseline. Radwanska ran it down with a terrific over the shoulder reply, but Muguruza zapped her two-hander to seal the break. The next game featured a wild rapid-fire net exchange, foot fault call to erase an ace and winners from both women. Muguruza bravely withstood it all and slammed a smash for 5-2.
Serving for a trip to her first Grand Slam final, Muguruza's heart must have been racing when she spun a double fault deep to face a second break point. In a heart-stopping moment, Radwanska's return collided with the tape, crawling back on her side of the net.
At deuce, one of the game's savviest players brain-cramped. Apparently encouraged by shouts of "out!" from her box, Radwanska stopped play to challenge a shot she thought landed long. Hawk-Eye showed the ball touched the back edge of the baseline line.
"I heard some people were saying out, out," Muguruza told the BBC. "I don't know. I was just playing, just praying the ball was on the line."
Technology magnified match point.
Muguruza met the moment moving forward. Whipping that wide serve one more time, Muguruza swooped forward for the swing volley to end the one hour, 56-minute match with a flourish—and a joyous kiss to the lawn that's been a springboard for her grandest dreams.