Beatriz Haddad Maia Defeats Karolina Pliskova to Reach First-Ever WTA Masters Final

Beatriz Haddad Maia is one win away from her first-ever WTA 1000 title.

The 26-year-old Brazilian professional tennis player beat Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the late semifinal at the National Bank Open to reach a WTA Masters event final for the first time ever.

Beatriz Haddad MaiaShe becomes the first Brazilian woman to reach a WTA Masters event final.

Haddad Maia was dominant for most of the first set, quickly building a 5-1 lead. Plishkova started to build some momentum, however, winning three consecutive games.

Haddad Maia’s 184 km/h serve on set point left Plishkova off-footed and the Czech player put her return into the net.

Plishkova had a strong start to the second set, building a 4-1 lead. But the 26-year-old Brazilian dug deep, tying the set 5-5.

After they exchanged games, the second set went to tiebreak.

Haddad Maia led the tiebreak 8-7 for second match point when Pliskova double faulted, angrily swatting away the Brazilian’s return.

Haddad Maia will face Simona Halep in the women’s final at Sobeys Stadium.

The WTA event was hard on seeded players with the top six all being eliminated before the quarterfinals. Haddad Maia was responsible for three of those upsets, taking down 13th seeded Leylah Fernandez, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, and 14th seeded Pliskova.

Beatriz Haddad Maia Outlasts Belinda Bencic to Reach National Bank Open Semifinals

Beatriz Haddad Maia continues her winning ways…

The 26-year-old Brazilian tennis player, who defeated top-ranked Iga Swiatek to reach the National Bank Open quarterfinals, has pulled off another three-set upset.

Beatriz Haddad MaiaHaddad Maia reached the semifinals on Friday after overcoming No.12 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Haddad Maia, ranked a career-high World No.24, took 2 hours and 11 minutes to battle past 2015 National Bank Open champion Bencic.

This week, Haddad Maia has become the first Brazilian to reach the quarterfinals, and now the semifinals, of a WTA 1000 tournament.

Haddad Maia came into the quarterfinals with her career-best win by ranking behind her, having toppled World No.1 Swiatek in the previous round. Haddad Maia became the first Brazilian woman to beat a current No.1 player with her upset of Swiatek.

However, Bencic had a history of success against Haddad Maia coming into Friday’s clash. Not only had Bencic defeated the Brazilian in their only tour-level match earlier this year in Sydney, she also beat Haddad Maia en route to her 2013 Junior Roland Garros title.

But the third time proved to be the charm for Haddad Maia, who garnered the upset to continue her breakthrough season.

Haddad Maia claimed her first two WTA singles titles earlier this year, in back-to-back weeks on the grass courts of Nottingham and Birmingham.

“It’s nice because Brazil is huge, so we have Brazilians everywhere. So I always feel the energy. Someone is always screaming, ‘Vamos Beatriz.’ And today I saw a lot of Brazilian flags. And I feel very proud of us,” said Haddad Maia of her win.

Haddad Maia is into her fifth semifinal at tour-level this season. Only Swiatek (8) and Simona Halep (7) have reached more semifinals on the WTA Tour in 2022.

For her semifinal opponent, Haddad Maia awaits the winner of the late quarterfinal between former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova and rising teenager Zheng Qinwen.

Caroline Garcia Defeats Alizé Cornet to Reach Bad Homburg Open

Caroline Garcia is vying for her eighth WTA title…

The 28-year-old half-Spanish French tennis player outlasted Alizé Cornet 7-6 (9), 3-6, 7-5 to reach the Bad Homburg Open final.

Caroline GarciaGarcia had to spend close to three hours on court to beat her compatriot.

Garcia saved match point at 5-4 down in the deciding set before winning the next three games as Cornet struggled with an apparent right leg injury, which restricted her movement.

Garcia, currently ranked No. 75 in the world, will face Bianca Andreescu in the final.

Andreescu advanced after Simona Halep withdrew ahead of their semifinal match.

Andreescu and Garcia have not met before.

It’s Garcias’s first WTA final since 2019.

Beatriz Haddad Maia Wins Birmingham Classic Title

Beatriz Haddad Maia now has back-to-back WTA titles…

The 26-year-old Brazilian tennis player secured back-to-back WTA titles on Sunday after Chinese opponent Shuai Zhang retired with an injury trailing 5-4 in the first set of the Birmingham Classic final.

Beatriz Haddad Maia Haddad Maia hadn’t won a senior title before arriving in England to play the Nottingham Open last week. Now she has two in her collection, both coming on grass courts.

The unseeded Haddad Maia and the eighth-seeded Zhang went into the final having won semifinal matches on Sunday morning — against second-seeded Simona Halep and Sorana Cirstea, respectively — after rain washed out the whole of Saturday.

Haddad Maia, who lost the first two games of the final, was preparing to serve for the first set when Zhang — who had consulted with medical staff during the changeover — walked slowly to the net and hugged her opponent. It was not immediately apparent what the injury was.

The two players teamed up to win the doubles title in Nottingham last week.

Garbine Muguruza Defeats Simona Halep to Reach First Australian Open Final

Garbine Muguruzais one win away from her third Grand Slamtitle…

In a battle of former World No. 1 players, the 26-year-old Spanish-Venezuelan tennis playerbeat No. 4 seed Simona Halepin straight sets on Thursday to reach the Australian Openfinal for the first time.

Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza’s 7-6 (8), 7-5 victory sends her to the title match against 14th-seeded Sofia Keninof the United States. Kenin beat No. 1 Ash Barty7-6 (6), 7-5.

Muguruza, unseeded at Melbourne Park, fended off four set points in the opener of her semifinal and wound up defeating Halep in a matchup of players who’ve won Wimbledonand the French Openbut not the Australian Open.

It was a streaky contest: Muguruza led 5-3 in the first set before Halep took 15 of 17 points to earn a pair of set points. Muguruza then took seven consecutive points. And so on, until Halep put a shot in the net to relinquish that set, then smashed her racket and sat on the sideline, shaking her head.

“I wasn’t thinking I was down,” Muguruza said. “You keep going.”Muguruza may have won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017, but she came to Melbourne Park as an unseeded player at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in six years.

Garbine Muguruza Reaches First-Ever Australian Open Semifinals

Garbine Muguruzais back in a Grand Slamsemifinal…

The 26-year-old Spanish-Venezuelan tennis player and former world No. 1 defeated No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open for the first time in her career.

Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, took a little more than 1 1/2 hours to eliminate Pavlyuchenkova, with both players struggling with their serves with the sun shining brightly at one end. 

It’s Muruguza’s first spot in a Grand Slamsemifinal since Roland Garrosin ’18.

After struggling for form following her 2017 Wimbledontriumph, Muguruza has looked like a player reborn at Melbourne Parksince reuniting with former coach Conchita Martinez.

Last November, Muguruza climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and got away from it all. She didn’t want to dwell on two relatively barren seasons since her Wimbledon win in 2017.

Her time on the mountain was “definitely was a life-changing experience,” Murgurza said, although she couldn’t explain how because it’s too complicated in a tournament environment.

“But it definitely had an impact on me, not as a tennis player, but just in general,” she said. “Being through such a tough challenge, I think, yeah, did many things inside of me.”

She’ll next face Simona Halep, both have already won at Wimbledon and the French Openand have been ranked No. 1, and are bidding for their first Grand Slam title on a hard court.

Garbine Muguruza Defeats Maria Sharapova to Reach French Open Semifinals

Garbine Muguruza moved a step closer to regaining the French Open title by beating two-time winner Maria Sharapova in a one-sided quarterfinal.

The 24-year-old Spanish tennis player, the third seed at Roland Garros and a winner in Paris in 2016, dominated from the start and ended the Russian’s hopes with a 6-2 6-1 victory in 70 minutes.

Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza, the reigning Wimbledon champion, has not dropped a set at the tournament.

She will play world number one Simona Halep in the last four after the Romanian beat German Angelique Kerber.

Both Muguruza and Halep, who is searching for her first Grand Slam title, could finish the tournament as the world number one.

“I was up against a great player so I had to make sure I brought my best tennis,” said Muguruza.

“I wasn’t thinking so much about the result. I was just thinking about not dropping my level, not giving her a single point, and I guess that helped my performance.”

Sharapova, back on the Paris clay after a two-year absence, admitted she had been outplayed but was pleased with her overall performance at the year’s second major.

“Coming into this part of the year, I was losing a few first-round matches, matches that I wanted to be winning,” she said.

“But to have had the victories that I have had, obviously things are moving a step in the right direction, but today was certainly not one of those steps.”

Rafael Nadal Named the International Tennis Federation’s Player of the Year

The 2017 tennis season may be over, but Rafael Nadal is still winning…

The 31-year-old Spanish tennis star has won the International Tennis Federation‘s male Player of the Year award.

Rafael Nadal

At 31, Nadal becomes the oldest ITF men’s world champion after a season in which he won a 10th French Open and a third US Open.

Nadal also became the oldest player to finish the year at No. 1 since the ATP rankings began in 1973.

But Nadal isn’t the only Latino award winner…

Garbine Muguruza was named the International Tennis Federation’s female Player of the Year.

The Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player and former world No. 1 dropped only one set en route to her first Wimbledon title and finished the year at No. 2 behind Simona Halep.

“Becoming ITF world champion in such a competitive year is amazing for me,” said Muguruza, who is also Spanish. “(Nadal) is a great role model for all of us, so it is a great moment for tennis in Spain.”

Caroline Garcia Advances to Seminals at the WTA Finals

Caroline Garcia is making the most of her first WTA Finals appearance…

In her WTA Finals debut, the 26-year-old part-Spanish player advanced to the semifinals on Friday when top-ranked Simona Halep lost to Elina Svitolina.

Caroline Garcia

Garcia defeated Caroline Wozniacki 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the early Red Group match, giving both 2-1 records. Wozniacki had already advanced, but Garcia had to wait. When Svitolina beat Halep 6-3, 6-4 later in the day, the top-ranked Romanian was eliminated and Garcia was through as the group winner.

In the semifinals, Garcia will play Venus Williams and Wozniacki will face Karolina Pliskova.

Garcia, playing at a career-high No. 8 ranking after winning back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing, is the only one of the eight players who didn’t have a chance to end the season with the top ranking.

“It was kind of weird, actually, to be here,” Garcia said. “I qualified last minute, two weeks before. I really wanted to keep improving, play every single match and get experience. That’s why I think I won these two matches.

Garbine Muguruza Wins Her First Western & Southern Open Title

Garbine Muguruza has claimed her first title in the United States…

The 23-year-old Spanish-Venezuelan tennis player added another trophy in her breakthrough summer, beating Simona Halep on Sunday for her first Western & Southern Open title.

Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza’s 6-1, 6-0 win in only 56 minutes extended her streak of playing deep into tournaments and denied Halep a chance to claim the No. 1 spot in the next WTA rankings.

Muguruza won her first title in the U.S. and her second of the year, after defeating Venus Williams at Wimbledon earlier this summer. In three tournaments since, she has at least reached the quarterfinals.

Muguruza broke Halep to go up 2-0 in the first set and was in control. Halep won only 12 points in the set, which lasted 23 minutes. Muguruza broke her again to open the second set and faced only two break points all match.

When it ended, Muguruza congratulated Halep and walked around the court with her smiling face cradled in both hands, taking it all in. Then she put her hands over her heart and reached toward the applauding crowd.

The women’s bracket was missing Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. Muguruza knocked off defending champion Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.