Wimbledon final: It's Muguruza vs Williams, again

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza reached her second Wimbledon final in three years with a thumping 6-1, 6-1 win over Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova on Thursday. Muguruza, who lost to Serena Williams in the 2015 final, will face her sister Venus in Saturday’s showpiece after the American beat Johanna Konta in straight sets.

A visibly confident Muguruza needed just 64 minutes to beat the 87th-ranked Rybarikova, who had overcome third seed Karolina Pliskova and American Coco Vanderweghe on her unexpected run to the last four. The Spaniard was 3-0 up after just 10 minutes, her aggressive approach paying dividends against an opponent, who as recently as March was ranked 453rd in the world and who looked nervous in what was the biggest game of her career to date.

“I think I stepped on the court super-confident and I played well,” said Muguruza, who in the absence of her regular coach is being guided at this tournament by Conchita Martinez, the only Spaniard to win the women’s singles title at the All England Club.


VENUS BEATS KONTA
All these years later, Wimbledon still brings out the best in Venus Williams. With her latest display of gutsy serving and big hitting, Williams beat Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-2 to reach her ninth title match at the All England Club and first since 2009.

At 37, Williams is the oldest Wimbledon finalist since Martina Navratilova was the 1994 runner-up at that age. Williams also stopped Konta’s bid to become the first woman from Britain in 40 years to win the country’s Grand Slam tournament. “I couldn’t have asked for more, but I’ll ask for a little more. One more win would be amazing,” Williams said.

“It won’t be a given, but I’m going to give it my all.” She’ll be seeking her sixth Wimbledon championship and eighth Grand Slam singles trophy overall. Her most recent came in 2008, when she defeated her younger sister, Serena, for the title at the All England Club. A year later, she lost the final to Serena. The women’s tournament this year has been marked by some fiercely contested and tight battles but the semi-finals were a disappointingly one-sided affairs.

“It was very difficult match for me. I’ve to say Garbine played an amazing match. I never saw her playing that well,” said Rybarikova. Venus’ resurgence began in earnest at Wimbledon a year ago, when she made it to the semifinals. Then, at the Australian Open in January, Venus reached the final, where she lost to — yes, you guessed it — her sister. Serena is off the tour for the rest of this year because she is pregnant. “I missed her so much before this match. And I was like, ‘I just wish she was here.’ And I was like, ‘I wish she could do this for me,’” Williams said with a laugh. “And I was like, ‘No, this time you have to do it for yourself.’ So here we are.”