By Chris Oddo | Friday October 30, 2015
Garbine Muguruza defeated Petra Kvitova in three tight sets on Friday at Singapore, but both made it through to the WTA Finals semis.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova battled for White Group Supremacy on Day 6 of the WTA Finals. Muguruza got the win, but thanks to Lucie Safarova, Kvitova was a winner as well on Friday.
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Kvitova qualified for the semifinals when Safarova shut down Angelique Kerber in straight sets on Friday’s second semifinal, which caused a grateful Kvitova her to send out a thank you tweet to Safarova immediately after singles action concluded in Singapore.
In a heavily anticipated first-time meeting, Muguruza and Kvitova battled for two hours and 33 minutes in a match that was at times choppy and at times chock full of high-octane shotmaking. After a seesaw pair of sets that featured ten breaks of serve, things got even crazier in the deciding set.
Many thought that the server would hold sway in this battle of WTA power players, but both players routinely tattooed second-serve returns to make things difficult for each other at the service stripe. Muguruza would rally from 2-0 and 4-2 down in the decider to finally finish off a resilient Kvitova. The Spaniard broke for a 6-5 lead then saved two break points in the final game before finally converting her fourth match point to clinch first place in the White Group with a 3-0 round robin record.
“There was a lot of moments that I felt frustrated today,” Muguruza said after the Match, according to WTATennis.com. “Today is about details, very short points, return, serve, double fault, ace. You don't have that much time to [get into] long rallies or just to feel in the court, so it's easy to get frustrated sometimes.”
After falling to 1-2 in round robin play, Kvitova found herself needing her Czech mate Lucie Safarova to win over Angelique Kerber in straight sets to qualify for the semis. It seemed like a tall order, given that Safarova entered the day 0-2 and had spoken of feeling fatigued due to playing both singles and doubles at Singapore this week.
But Safarova produced an inspiring performance, netting her first career WTA Finals win over Kerber, 6-4, 6-3.
Safarova improved to 2-1 over Kerber lifetime after connecting on four break points out of 13 attempts.
The 28-year-old Czech made early breaks stand up in both sets, thanks to aggressive, opportunistic play. Kerber never quit, however. The German saved several break points to hold and force Safarova to serve the first set out, and in the second set she saved three match points while serving at 3-5, But Safarova would break through on her fourth match point to send Kvitova into the semis.
Muguruza, who claims the top spot in the White Group, will face Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals on Saturday, while Kvitova will face the Red Group's first-place winner Maria Sharapova in the other semifinal.
Kvitova owns a 3-6 lifetime record against Sharapova. The Czech snapped a five-match losing streak vs. the Russian at last year’s WTA Finals, and they have not met since.
Muguruza owns a 4-2 lifetime edge over Radwanska will all four of her victories over the Pole coming in 2015.