Pliskova beats Muguruza to enter WTA semis

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Bengaluru, October 25: Karolina Pliskova beat Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-2 to become the first player to secure a WTA Finals last-four berth in Singapore.

The victory helped Pliskova top White Group while French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko's participation in the end-of-season competition is over after her defeats to Muguruza and Venus Williams.

With one group match to spare against Ostapenko, Pliskova can take it easy and her delight was palpable.

"I'm just happy that I don't have to play the next match for qualifying, because last year I was playing for it and it was pretty stressful," the world No.3 said as she recalled her agonising defeat to Agnieszka Radwanska in 2016.

"So always happy, you know, that if I can win few matches in a row, it give me always extra confidence. I wasn't at my best, but still I won so it counts," she added after following up her opening day victory over Venus Williams.

Muguruza beat Ostapenko in her opening match but was completely flat against Pliskova and the Spaniard is hoping to regroup before her all-or-nothing showdown against Venus for a semi-final berth on Thursday.

STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN Pliskova [3] bt Muguruza [2] 6-2 6-2

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS Pliskova - 15/8 Muguruza - 7/17

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS Pliskova - 1/0 Muguruza - 0/2

BREAK POINTS WON Pliskova - 5/10 Muguruza - 1/4

FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE Pliskova - 61 Muguruza - 67

PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE Pliskova - 68/65 Muguruza - 55/27

TOTAL POINTS Pliskova - 59 Muguruza - 38

(Stats Source: OPTA)

The Red Group action resumes on Wednesday with world No.1 Simona Halep taking on Caroline Wozniacki while Caroline Garcia meets Elina Svitolina in the other match.