(Reuters) - Fourth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza won a lengthy battle against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-2 5-7 7-5 on a hot and windy day on Friday to reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals. Wimbledon champion Muguruza stuck out her tongue in exasperation after finally prevailing in the two hour 45-minute contest between the two grand slam winners. Muguruza next faces world number one Karolina Pliskova, who won back-to-back matches on Friday. The top seed then took another step toward successfully defending her title by overpowering former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 in her second match. Second seed Simona Halep also beat Britain's Johanna Konta for the first time in an exciting back and forth 6-4 7-6(1) victory.

Source: The Star August 18, 2017 23:41 UTC