Garbine Muguruza upset Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals of WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships, eliminating her by 2-1 (3:6; 6:3; 6:2) for one hour and 51 minutes. Aryna Sabalenka is another top-seeded player to leave the high-ranked championship.
The No 9 seed Garbine Muguruza extended her superb run of form but started the match a little bit nervous. Aryna Sabalenka won the first set by 6:3, reaching an early break in the 4th game and kept the advantage by the end. The second set started with an exchange of breaks for both players, but Garbine Muguruza was the first to defend it and steadily won by 6:3.
А bread moment in the third set was the 5th game when the Spanish player recorded a break and thus took serious advantage to win by 6:2.
“I felt like she wanted to play more aggressive, faster, serving big, and I kind of struggled to find my shots, my game, and she quickly broke me with the serve and took [the first set]”, said Garbine Muguruza. “But then I tried to be more aggressive as well. If you have somebody in front of you that is trying to win the point in a couple of shots, you have to be faster and stronger, so I tried to be dominant after. Then everything was more equal. I felt more in the points”, added she.
In the last quarter-final, Jil Teichmann eliminated the American teenager Cori Gauff by 2-0 (6:3; 6:3).
On the semi-finals, Garbine Muguruza will play versus Elise Mertens, while Jil Teichmann will face Barbora Krejcikova.
