Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka will face Garbine Muguruza in a battle of former World No. 1s at the Qatar Open semifinal on Friday. Get the live streaming options of this Victoria Azarenka v Garbine Muguruza match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Victoria Azarenka v Garbine Muguruza Head to Head
The two have shared the spoils in the previous four meetings.
In the first-ever meeting, Azarenka came out on top with a straight sets Round-of-16 win in Miami 2016.
Muguruza won the next matchup, beating the Belarusian in the Monterrey final in 2019. They met again in Rome the same year, with the Spaniard retiring while trailing 4-6, 1-3 in the Round-of-16 contest.
Muguruza, however, got her revenge in Rome the next year, bouncing back from a set down to win the three-set quarterfinal.
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Azarenka Knocks Out the Top Seed
World No. 14 Victoria Azarenka knocked out the top seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal on Thursday to reach her 60th WTA semifinal.
Despite playing with a back issue, which needed treatment during the match, the eighth seed looked in ominous touch as she overwhelmed Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and 27 minutes.
The two-time Australian Open champion will be aiming for a 41st singles final on Friday. A 21-time winner on the tour, Azarenka is a two-time champion in Doha, having claimed back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013. She also reached the title clash in 2015, but finished runner-up to Lucie Safarova.
A former World No. 1, the Belarusian, who came into the tournament following a shock first-round defeat to Jessica Pegula at the Australian Open, has hit form in Doha, reaching the final four without dropping a set in the tournament.
Azarenka, who won her first title in four years after Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Western and Southern Open final last year, began her Qatar Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In the Round of 16, the 31-year-old ousted Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-4, 6-2, before extending her perfect record to 4-0 against Svitolina.
The Belarusian struck 25 winners, saved five of eight break points she faced and converted six of 12 to ease past the Ukrainian.
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Muguruza Powers Past Sakkari
Facing Azarenka in the second semifinal will be another former World No. 1 Garbine Muguruza, who needed just 66 minutes to dispatch the in-form Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
The World No. 16 Muguruza, who is the highest ranked unseeded player in the tournament, landed 76.9% of her first serves against Sakkari and won 80% of those points. She faced just one break point in the entire match, which she failed to save, but created 12 break point opportunities for herself, winning seven of them.
A two-time major winner, the Spaniard has looked in decent touch this week, beginning the tournament with a straight sets win over Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, before having to battle past the third seed Aryna Sabalenka in a draining two-hour-and-26-minute contest. The 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win was Muguruza’s first against the Belarusian, who had won their only previous contest at the China Open in 2018.
The win over Sakkari on Thursday improved the Spaniard to 12-3 this year.
The 27-year-old had kickstarted the year by reaching the Round of 16 in Abu Dhabi. She looked in great form at the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne, where she reached the final, dropping just 10 games en route, but faltered in the last hurdle against Ash Barty.
At the Australian Open, the 2020 runner-up eased into the Round of 16 without much trouble before falling to eventual champion Naomi Osaka, who saved two match points to score a come-from-behind victory.
Muguruza, who won the French Open in 2016 and the Wimbledon title in 2017, will be aiming to reach her 14th final on Friday. A winner of seven titles, the 6’0” tall, aggressive right-hander finished runner-up at the Qatar Open in 2018, falling to Petra Kvitova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Last year, she had reached the quarterfinals in Doha before being beaten by Barty.
Barty v Serena Prediction and Tip
Azarenka is the seeded player, but has played far less than Muguruza this year and also had issues with her back in the quarterfinal. So the Spaniard will hold a slight edge, although there is little to choose between the two. Expect a cracking three-setter if Azarenka is fit and raring to go.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/4 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Doha Open will be played from March 1 to 7. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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