TENNIS – Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled off a big upset beating Maria Sharapova in the first semifinal of the Madrid Mutua Open. Kuznetsova will take on Petra Kvitova who put an end to 19-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams’ 27 match winning streak by beating Williams 6-2 6-3 in the second semifinal. Diego Sampaolo
Svetlana Kuznetsova, twice Grand Slam champion, upset defending champion Maria Sharapova with 6-2 6-4 in the first semifinal of the Mutua Madrid Open, a WTA Premier Mandatory Tournament.Kuznetsova will play in her first Premier Mnadatory Final after six years.
Kuznetsova dictated the early points and broke serve in the third game of the first set. before getting the doble break in the seventh game to claim the first set with 6-2. Sharapova earned her only break point of the match at 2-1 in the second set but she failed to convert it. Kuznetsova got the break for 3-2 in the fifth game. Sharapova hold her serve when Kuznetsova did not convert on her three break point chances in the seventh game. Kuznetsova never looked back and closed out with 6-4 to reache her 35th career final.
Kuznetsova has crowned a dream week in which she beat Garbine Muguruza, Samanta Stous and Lucie Safarova after three marathon matches.
Kuznetsova will be bidding to win her first title in Spain, the country where she moved as a teenager to train at the Sanchez Casal Academy in Barcelona. She will play her first finals in nine months. She had never reached the semifinals in Madrid
“I feel very happy. It was a very tough match. I was playing good and I was serving good. Everything was working well”, said Kuznetsova.
Sharapova would have returned to World Number 2 if he had won this match.
Kuznetsova will battle for the Mutua Open title against the 2011 champion Petra Kvitova who upset Serena Williams 6-2 6-3. Kvitova leads over Kuznetsova 3-1 in their previous head-to-head matches but the Russian player won their most recent clash last year at the Roland Garros with 9-7 in the third set on clay.
Kvitova produced her best win of the year putting an end to Williams’ winning streak of 50 consecutive matches at WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments and to the streak of 27 consecutive wins on Tour. Williams had won her previous five encounters with Kvitova dropping just one set along the way but Kvitova was unstoppable today from beginning to the end. Williams lost for the first time in 2015 after coming close to losing against Viktoria Azarenka who wasted three match points at 6-5 40-0.
Kvitova broke for the first time after a very long third game on he fifth break chance with three winners.
Williams broke straight back but Kvitova broke twice more en route to winning the first set with 6-2 The second set was no different as Kvitova raced out to 5-1 lead with two breaks of serve before Williams was able to show some signs of life in the match by taking the next two games for 3-5. The US tennis legend went up 30-0 on her serve in the ninth game but Kvitova recovered to break serve after four unforced errors by Williams closing out the match after one hour and 13 minutes
“I am just exhausted bit it’s really good preparation for the Roland Garros”, said a disappointed Williams.
Kvitova scored her third win against a World Number 1 player after beating Dinara Safina at the 2009 US Open and Caroline Wozniacki in the 2011 WTA Finals.
“I had never beaten her, so it’s really special moment for me”, said Kvitova.
