Garbiñe Muguruza has not been able to advance further in the Sydney Tennis Classic, his first test of the 2022 season and the last one before the start of the Australian Open next Monday. The Spanish tennis player, second favorite to the title, She fell to the Russian Daria Kasatkina in straight sets by a double 6-4 in just under an hour and a half of play.
It was a tough match for Muguruza against a Kasatkina who was very solid with her serve (He only conceded two break balls for ten for the Spanish, who managed to save six) and who also managed to break Muguruza’s serve in the fifth game of the first set to maintain the advantage with his serve and close the set 6-4 with the first ball he had.
It seemed that Kasatkina was getting the game back on track by breaking Muguruza’s serve in the opening game of the second set, although the Spanish managed to return the break immediately. However Muguruza lost in this exchange of breaks while Kasatkina managed to open a gap on the scoreboard and close the set and the match again by 6-4 in the second match ball that he had.
Now Kasatkina will face the Spanish Paula Badosa in the semifinals, who suffered to win in three sets against the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, who managed to reach the quarterfinals after winning this Thursday in her postponed match against Oceane Dodin (2-6, 7-5 and 6-3). Badosa beat Bencic 7-6 (6), 3-6 and 6-3 after more than two and a half hours of battle.
The match started with both players very solid with their serve until Badosa broke Bencic’s serve in the eighth game to go 5-3 and serve in favor. But nevertheless Badosa did not manage to take advantage of it nor did a set ball to the rest with 5-4, and another four set balls to the rest with 6-5 so the sleeve was decided in the tiebreaker where, there yes, Badosa ended the contemplations.
In the second set, however, it was Bencic who took the initiative, breaking Badosa’s serve in the fourth game to go 1-3. Despite the fact that the Spanish returned the break immediately, Bencic added another break that Badosa could not equal and, in this way, took the second set 3-6 to force the final sleeve.
In the third game Badosa put Bencic in a lot of trouble with his serve until in the fourth game he managed to break his serve to reach 3-1. Despite the swift response from the Swiss, Badosa again managed to break Bencic’s serve in the eighth game and raise a 0-40 against serve to close the set and the match 6-3 and meet Kasatkina in the semifinals.
On the other side of the table, Estonian Anett Kontaveit and Czech Barbora Krejcikova will face off in the other semi-final. The Estonian managed her pass after Ons Jabeur retired due to injury at the end of the first set, in which Kontaveit won 6-4, while Krejcikova swept the French Caroline Garcia by a resounding 6-0, 6-2.
Andy Murray reaches the semi-finals
In the men’s draw at the Sydney Tennis Classic, Andy Murray He showed that, step by step, he is improving his level before competing in the Australian Open. The Scotsman is already in the semifinals of the tournament after beating Belgian David Goffin 6-2 and retiring at the end of the first set. Now murray will seek a place in the final this Friday against a demanding rival, the American Reilly Opelka, who beat his compatriot Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (4) and 6-2.
In the other semifinal will be Aslan Karatsev, who sealed his pass after defeating Italian Lorenzo Sonego in three sets 6-2, 3-6 and 6-2. Karatsev will now face the winner of the match between Britain’s Daniel Evans and American Maxime Cressy for a place in the final, who played his second match on Thursday after defeating Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4 in his postponed match .