Simona Halep of Romania, the number four seed, will face the unseeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Thursday, January 30. The match is scheduled from 3.30 pm local time (4.30 am BST) and you can find the Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza live streaming options along with its preview, head to head and tips here.
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Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza Head to Head
The pair have met five times before, with Muguruza leading their head to head series by three matches to two, although it has been nearly two years since their last meeting at the French Open, when Halep won en route to the title. Her other victory came on clay in Stuttgart in 2015. For her part, Muguruza emerged victorious in Wuhan in 2014, again playing for Spain in the Federation Cup a year later, and at the Cincinnati Masters in 2017.
Halep Cruised Through the Tournament so Far
Twice a Grand Slam winner, and a beaten finalist here two years ago when she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in an epic battle, Halep has cruised through to the semi-finals without dropping a set so far. In fact, only Jennifer Brady of the United States, in their first round match, even took her to a tie-break.
Since then, Harriet Dart of Great Britain, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, and Elise Mertens of Belgium have all been clinically despatched, and she made short work of the challenge of Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in their quarter-final, taking just 53 minutes to over-power her opponent 6 -1, 6 -1.
She broke the 24 year old’s opponent in the third game of the match, again two games later, and then for a third time to wrap up the first set in 29 minutes.
Halep then broke the Kontaveit serve early in the second set, and then raced away, sealing victory with an ace on her first match point.
Muguruza’s Unexpected Revival in Melbourne
Like Halep, Muguruza is a former world number one, two-time Grand Slam winner, and a runner-up in another Grand Slam final. However, there the similarities end because. whilst the Romanian is near the top of her game – it is just over 6 months ago that she won Wimbledon – Muguruza has been in a slump for the past two years. Her world rankings has plummeted and she began the tournament at 32 in the world and unseeded.
Therefore, her revival in Melbourne has been both unexpected and, for her fans, most welcome.
Unlike her opponent, Muguruza had her struggles in the earlier rounds, with both the American qualifier Shelby Rogers and local favourite Amla Tomljanovic taking sets off her. However, having got past those challenges, she then impressed by thrashing the number five seed, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, and then beating the Dutch number 9 seed, Kiki Bertens.
She by no means had things all her own way with the Russian number 30 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in their quarter-final on Thursday, with the pair twice swapping breaks of serve in an attritional first set. However, the Spaniard broke for a third time, and sealed the set when the Russian sent a backhand long.
The second set was less competitive, and, with Muguruza leading 5 – 3, she booked her semi-final place with a drop volley.
Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza Predictions & Tips
Halep will go into this match favourite. Despite Muguruza having the better head to head record, her victories came when she was in her prime, something she has not been in for the past two years. She has had a dramatic return to form in Melbourne, but she is playing against a woman playing close to her best currently.
Tip: Halep to win in straight sets: 6/4 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)
You can watch & bet on Halep v Muguruza on Thursday, January 30 here. . Get the latest tennis predictions and tips here.
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