SINGAPORE — Garbine Muguruza continued her dream debut at the WTA Finals by completing round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 record to advance to the semifinals after a hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Petra Kvitova Friday.
By topping the White Group, the Spaniard set up a showdown against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska while Kvitova (1-2) received a huge boost from her Czech Fed Cup teammate Lucie Safarova (1-2), who beat Angelique Kerber to help her advance.
Germany’s Kerber (1-2) only needed to win a set in Friday’s second match to move on but the already-eliminated Safarova (1-2) found her best form of the week to blast the German off the court and out of the eight-woman event with a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Kerber’s loss was Kvitova’s gain and the double Wimbledon champion claimed second place in the group courtesy of sets won to book a last four berth against Red Group winner Maria Sharapova.
While her rivals were left scratching their heads and fretting over the various permutations, Muguruza was spared the agony of relying on others by claiming a third straight triumph.
“It’s amazing to reach the semifinals,” Wimbledon finalist Muguruza said in a courtside interview. “To be here is a great payoff for an amazing year and hopefully I can continue winning and playing like this.”
Muguruza didn’t have it easy against two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova and she had to dig deep in a messy first encounter with the Czech.
The two ended with a shared total of 15 service breaks after see-saw battles in the second and third sets.
With five breaks in the final set alone, Muguruza grabbed the crucial break for 6-5 and it took her four match points before she closed it out with a lunging volley.
The second match followed a similar pattern to the first as both players struggled in an early exchange that saw Safarova edge ahead by getting the better of three consecutive breaks and she rode the advantage all the way to a one-set lead.
Safarova’s serve improved in the second set and she was able to apply pressure on a visibly frustrated Kerber.
The Czech never looked threatened in the second, breaking early and again the ninth game to seal victory on her fourth match point when Kerber sent a forehand into the tramlines as both players bowed out of the tournament.
Federer advances
In Basel, Roger Federer was pushed to three sets before beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors second round Thursday.
Federer, seeking a seventh title at his hometown event, will play David Goffin of Belgium in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Donald Young beat fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-2, 7-6 (6) to set up an all-American quarterfinal in Federer’s half of the draw.
Young next faces Jack Sock, who beat another compatriot, sixth-seeded John Isner, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Croatia also had a good day with Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic advancing to the last eight.
Seventh-seeded Cilic will face Rafael Nadal next after beating Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia, 6-3, 6-1.
Karlovic typically dominated with his serve and fired 25 aces in a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.
On Friday, Karlovic plays Richard Gasquet, the fifth-seeded Frenchman who beat Dominic Thiem of Austria, 7-6 (1), 6-4. — Agencies
