Venus Williams gained revenge for her Wimbledon final defeat by Garbine Muguruza when the American advanced to the last four of the WTA Finals with a gutsy 7-5, 6-4 victory over the Spanish World No. 2 on Thursday.
Both knew a win would secure a passage to the semifinals as they held identical 1-1 records in White Group play at the season-ending event but the 37-year-old was stronger on the key points and moved brilliantly around the court to progress.
The victory enabled Venus, who won this event in 2008, to advance along with pool winner Karolina Pliskova, who won her first two matches but ended round-robin play with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat by Jelena Ostapenko earlier on Thursday.
The winner-takes-all showdown started with Venus looking to dictate terms, pushing Muguruza around the court and attacking her second serve as the Spaniard countered by pushing the American back with her deep ground-strokes.
Venus continued to pick away at the Muguruza serve but an ace and a string of big forehand winners helped stave off the early threat as both combatants took the fight to each other in a high-class encounter.
The pair traded service breaks before Muguruza failed to hold on and send the opener into a tie-break when Venus converted her third set point after the back-peddling Spaniard dumped a forehand into the net.
Muguruza’s repeated attempts to pull clear in the second were denied by Venus on every occasion with the American twice battling back from behind to edge 5-4 ahead with her strongest service game of the set. The American made a concerted push for victory in the 10th game and sealed a memorable victory after an hour and 41 minutes when Muguruza sent another feeble forehand into the net.
The results:
White group: Jelena Ostapenko bt Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-1.
Venus Williams bt Garbine Muguruza 7-5, 6-4 .
