Muguruza topples No. 1 Pliskova in semis at Cincinnati

“I think it’s something special to get number one in the world”, Halep told reporters.

Defending champion Karolina Pliskova pulled off a doubleheader sweep Friday at the Western & Southern Open, reaching the semifinals by winning a pair of matches with little rest in-between. The Czech’s 28 unforced errors throughout played into an outing that lasted 79 minutes. “I know I won, but I’m sure she feels like it was a great match as well, because it was a tough battle and very hot out there”. The percentage from her side was pretty high, as well. And, yeah, I think after that, that break in the second set was – it was a tough game. She would hold and quickly punished Halep again, claiming a third break in the next game to move to within a game of victory.

The Wimbledon champion will meet the victor of the later semi-final between Simona Halep and Sloane Stephens.

“I think today was my best performance of the tournament, because I felt like I played 20 hours in that court”, noted a smiling Muguruza. And then here in Cincinnati, much better result. “I felt very comfortable”. Maybe I feel the pressure and I don’t realise it. I didn’t play that badly.

Simona Halep rips a backhand during her finals defeat.

She gained a second-set edge with a backhand victor on break point for a 4-2 lead before closing it out. Muguruza went ahead and allowed the Romanian to win only one game.

“We must not believe that because I won here, I’m going to win the US Open, the majors are completely different”, she warned. “I was thinking about it”. The rangy and powerful Spaniard had beaten Halep in both previous hard-court matches, but Halep had the advantage in their last meeting, more than two years ago, on clay.

11th-ranked Dimitrov, who lost in the last year’s semifinal to eventual champion Marin Cilic, will face Australian Nick Kyrgios, who knocked out David Ferrer 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4).

Kyrgios, who bounced top-seeded Rafael Nadal out of the tournament in the quarterfinals, could not rely on his decisive serve for the win, although he did fire 15 aces to Dimitrov’s six, he also had four double faults to the Bulgarian’s five.

“It was a very long time that I don’t play with Halep, but she’s playing very good”. However, as it had all match, the forehand let her down as the Romanian sent it into the net. I’m happy to be there, happy to be in that situation. “Solid opponent”, Muguruza said.

Muguruza will start among the favourites for the upcoming US Open as she chases a third Grand Slam title. “She stays close to the baseline, and she hits everything”. “I’ll just go out and serve and whatever happens, happens”.