THE second semi finalist of the Teotihuacán Group of the 2021 WTA Finals was determined, with Garbine Muguruza defeating the in-form Anett Kontaveit to book her place on Day 5 of proceedings. This knocked out Karolina Pliskova in the process, despite the Czech beating Barbora Krejcikova in the day session to keep her hopes alive.

Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) vs. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)

The head-to-head record predicted the lesser ranked Pliskova would take the win and get back on the winners list after losing to Kontaveit on day three, while second seed Krejcikova was looking to end her tournament on a high and finally get a win on the board.

The first set was a one-sided affair as Krejcikova blitzed Pliskova to take the set 6-0. Krejcikova was dominant off her first serve with a first serve percentage of 85.7 per cent. She also registered a first serve points percentage of 83.3 per cent and won 100 per cent of the points off her second serve.

After the first set, things swung Pliskova’s way, winning each of the next two sets 6-4 6-4 to take the match. After not having any double faults in the first set, Krejcikova’s serve became more error riddled, registering six double faults in the second set alone. Her first serve percentage and first serve points won percentage also drastically dropped.

Pliskova’s serve on the other hand improved in the second set, and despite registering four double faults of her own she also managed to hit five aces. Her first serve percentage also rose to 65 per cent, which although not high is an improvement on her percentage of 52 per cent from the opening set.

Pliskova’s stats continued to improve in the final set. Although she hit five double faults while Krejcikova only hit two, Pliskova hit five aces again and her first serve percentage and first serve points won percentage continued to climb in an upward trajectory.

With this result, Krejcikova’s stellar season came to an end, where she rose from 65th in the world in 2020 to third in the world in 2021 and earned her first three career singles titles. Pliskova on the other hand was still alive in the tournament, but it all depended on which way things went in the night session between Kontaveit and Muguruza to determine whether Pliskova would move on to the semi-finals.

“You never want to start a match like this, with my serve and with my game, not to be able to make a game,” Pliskova said post-match. “[It] was a combination of her playing well, me not playing that well.”

“But you just go back to really trying to make the simple things with the serve, maybe just to go for the serve which you feel the most confident about. Just to play simple, maybe couple crosscourts, not to go for crazy winners.”

Garbine Muguruza (ESP) vs. Anett Kontaveit (EST)

Although it was essentially a dead rubber for Kontaveit, having already secured her place in the semi-finals, it was do or die for Muguruza, who had to win in order to secure her place in the next stage.

Muguruza raced away to a 2-0 early lead in the first set, and although Kontaveit was able to rein it back in a bit, Muguruza was then able to restore her lead and take the set 6-4.

Muguruza also took the second set 6-4 to ensure her place in the semi-finals and handed Kontaveit her first loss of the tournament.

Despite the evenness of the scoreboard Muguruza dominated almost every stat during both sets. Although her first serve percentage was down on Kontaveit’s in the opening set, her first and second serve points won were both a sizeable chunk higher than the Estonian’s. Muguruza also managed to save every break point she faced, whereas Kontaveit only managed to save three quarters.

Muguruza won all the stats in the second set. She served a whopping five aces in the second set, and once again managed to save every break point she faced, whereas Kontaveit only managed to save half. She managed to raise her first serve percentage and although her first serve points won percentage was down, her second serve points won percentage rose from the first to second set.

WTA FINALS DAY 5 RESULTS:

[3] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated [2] Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) 0-6 6-4 6-4
[6] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated [8] Anett Kontaveit (EST) 6-4 6-4