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Muguruza to face Williams in final

Alex ChafferJuly 9, 2015

It was a historic day at Wimbledon as the women took centre stage for the semifinal matches. A familiar face booked her place, but not before a young newcomer stole the headlines on Thursday.

Serena Williams Wimbledon Sieg
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Grant

The Women's semifinals at Wimbledon came and went quickly, as Serena Williams faced Maria Sharapova after Garbine Muguruza had played against Agnieszka Radwanska. It would be an all new final after a surprising result in one of the matches.

Williams was in superb form, and not just against her Russian opponent Sharapova - whom she had beaten 16 times in a row heading into their semifinal encouter. The world number one took little time in asserting her dominance once again, as she won the first set 6-2 in just over half an hour. The American completely dominating Sharapova, with her power and presicion style.

The second set provided much of the same from both players. It took until the fifth game of the set for Williams to break, as she then served out to take a 4-2 lead. The American continued her dominance, as both players held serve to leave the set at 5-3, before Sharapova saved the first match point for Williams on her own serve. It didn't trouble Williams, who served out the set, 6-4, to clinch her place in a Grand Slam final for the 25th time.

"I was really excited to just get through today," said Williams after her win. "It's been a long time since I've been in the final, it's really cool."

Garbine Muguruza will play in her first Grand Slam final against Serena Williams; the American's 25thImage: Reuters/T. Melville

A historic day for Spain

Garbine Muguruza won the first set 6-2 in her Wimbledon semi-final against Polish 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday. Muguruza, bidding to become the first Spanish woman to reach the Wimbledon final since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1996, outpowered her Polish opponent early on and even took a 3-1 lead in the second set.

However, the experienced Radwanska fought back and won five games in a row to win the second set 6-3. The 2012 Wimbledon runner-up discovered her form just in time, and had Muguruza running all over the court on the second set. Breaking in the first game in the third, it looked like the tide had well and truly turned in favor of the Pole, but Muguruza broke back straight away.

The momentum of the game continued to go back and forth and after an incredible rally in the sixth game of the third set, Muguruza took her lead to 4-2 and never looked back, holding the next service game and, eventually, sealing her place in Saturday's final after winning the third set 6-3.

"I have worked all my life for this, I have no words," said 20th seed Muguruza who will climb into the top 10 for the first time next week as a result of her performance at Wimbledon. "It was a tough match. Agnieszka has so much experience but I just wanted to keep fighting."

21-year old Muguruza was born in Guatire, Venezuela, but now lives in Barcelona, Spain. A good oman for the world number 19 is that she overcame her final opponent, Serena Williams, at the French Open back in 2014. However their last meeting at this year's Australian Open resulted in a win for the imperious American.

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