Abu Dhabi - Emirates Voice
Garbine Muguruza fought off Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the Western & Southern Open semifinals with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 win on Friday.
The Wimbledon champion clinched her second straight W&S semifinal berth with a forehand deep into the corner that Kuznetsova could only steer into the net.
Muguruza needed 2 hours, 45 minutes - the longest of her three tournament matches - to clinch the win. It came less than 24 hours after she spent 2 hours, 18 minutes on the court and fought off three match points to overcome Madison Keys in the round of 16.
Kutznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam champion and the draw's oldest woman at 32, spent eight more minutes on the court in this match than she did in her previous two combined matches.
Top-ranked Karolina Pliskova topped Camila Giorgi 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
In men's action, Nick Kyrgios shook off losing the first set to reach his first W&S quarterfinal with a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Ivo Karlovic in the completion of a round-of-16 match postponed by rain from Thursday.
Kyrgios improved to 4-0 in his career against Karlovic. He'll face the winner of the postponed match between top-seeded Rafael Nadal and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Source: Khaleej Times