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Garbine Muguruza emerges as favorite for Wimbledon title
After losing at the French Open—failing to defend her title—Spain’s GarbineMuguruza deemed it a disguised blessing. She was now unburdened and could start amassing points afresh. It sounded like a rationalization. But maybe she was on to something.
A big smile on the face of Conchita Martinez as @GarbiMuguruza reaches her third Grand Slam semi-final...#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/6japmrU7Y7
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2017
Through five rounds at Wimbledon, Muguruza has looked like future No.1 and clear title contender; not a player in search of confidence and motivation. The latest victim of Mugu’s Wimbledon campaign: Svetlana Kuznetsova. Playing points and mindset with equal aplomb, she rolled to a straight set win setting up a Thursday date with…..
Magdalena Rybarikova. The World No. 87 kept her breakthrough campaign going with a surprisingly (inexplicably?) easy 6-3, 6-3 win over America’s CoCoVandeweghe, the 24th seed.
Magdalena Rybarikova completes the ladies’ semi-final line-up…#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/nCC8K4iMtW
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2017
The two met in the French Open and Rybarikova won her patient play. She won again today by letting Vandeweghe miss (she had eight errors to CoCo’s 30) and taking advantage of her opportunities.
Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat , sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor's in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.