The world number two Simona Halep will be up against Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in the semifinal of the 2020 WTA Italian Open on Sunday, September 20. The match is expected to begin at around 4 pm local time (3 pm BST). Get the live streaming options of this Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza Head to Head
These two former Grand Slam winners have faced off six times in the past with Muguruza leading Halep 4-2. Their last meeting came at the Australian Open earlier this year where Muguruza won 7-6, 7-5 to advance to the final of the competition.
On clay, however, it’s a different story. There have been two such matches and both have been won by Halep – one at the 2015 Stuttart Open and the other at the 2018 French Open. Halep had gone on to lift the title at the latter.
Also Read:
Halep Notches up Eighth Win Since Resumption
Halep is galloping along at such a speed she looks difficult to beat. One of the few players to have not played a single exhibition match during the pandemic break, Halep has now notched up her eighth successive win in this second part of the year and overall is 18-2 in 2020.
Now Yulia Putintseva isn’t the highest-ranked opponent Halep would face in her career, and nor is she the highest pedigreed one on clay but the Kazakh was coming off some brilliant victories following excellent fightback. This included one against Petra Martic and another over fellow Kazakh and one of the players of the season, Elena Rybakina.
Both those wins had come in three sets after it had looked at one stage Putintseva was in big trouble. Halep knew the Kazakh could fight, she just killed off her chances by racing off to a 6-2, 2-0 lead in their quarterfinal before Putintseva retired because of a lower back injury. The match lasted just 47 minutes.
With that win, Halep, who had earlier beaten Jasmine Paolini and Dayana Yastremska, has made it to her fifth semifinal at the Italian Open. Two of the previous four have resulted in wins, losing both to Elina Svitolina. She would be gunning for her first title but then again there’s that small matter of getting past Muguruza for now.
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Muguruza Stops Azarenka in Her Tracks
Defeating Victoria Azarenka was not going to be easy, especially after the form she had shown all three tournaments she has participated in since her first round loss to Venus Williams at the Lexington Open.
Having crushed Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-0 in the third round was another feather in Azarenka’s cap that had made the world sit up and notice – not that it didn’t happen when she won the Cincinnati Open and made the final at the US Open.
And when she raced off to a 4-1 lead against Muguruza and took the first set 6-3, it looked like the Spaniard was all set to become another of her victims. Seven breaks of serves in the second set meant the momentum fluctuated a lot before Muguruza had a chance to serve it out; she missed a set-point, saved a few break points before finishing it off to take it into the third.
Muguruza had wrested the initiative and ran away to go 3-1 up, but then lost her rhythm as Azarenka won the next three games and was 30-0 up on the Spaniard’s serve. Muguruza showed she is made of sterner stuff as she first came back to hold her serve and then broke Azarenka yet again before serving it out in the next game.
And now she takes on another in-form player; one who has lost just two matches all year.
The good news for Muguruza is of the two defeats Halep has suffered all year, one came against her. Surely should give the Spaniard some confidence going into a match as big as this.
Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza Prediction & Tip
Halep holds the bookmakers’ edge given her recent form and Muguruza’s patchiness but this is one of those games which could test the Romanian for the first time all tournament. Games market could be the way to go.
Tip: Over 21.5 games in the match: 5/6 (bet365)
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The Italian Open 2020 will be played from September 14 to September 20. You can watch & bet on the Italian Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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