Muguruza, Venus advance to Wimbledon final

London, July 13 (IANS) Spaniard Garbine Muguruza and American veteran Venus Williams set up the women's singles final clash of the Wimbledon tennis championships eliminating Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova and local favourite Johanna Konta, respectively, here on Thursday.

Muguruza outplayed Rybarikova 6-1, 6-1 in the first semi-final as she advanced into the Wimbledon final for the second time, while 37-year-old Venus defeated British Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-2 to be back at the All England Club for the ninth time.

One hour and four minutes was enough for 14th seed Muguruza to get rid of the 28-year-old Rybarikova, who has never passed the third round at any Grand Slam before the 2017 Wimbledon, reports Efe.

Rybarikova, who ousted third seed Karolina Pliskova, seemed off-colour in front of Muguruza who put on a strong performance, to get into the final for the second time at the All England Club.

"I wasn't expecting anything because you never know how it's going to go," 23-year-old Muguruza was quoted as saying by wtatennis.com after the match. "I saw her play before. I saw she was playing very good, very talented.

"I just expected myself to be ready as much as I could. Maybe the score did look maybe more easier than actually playing during the games."

The 2016 French Open champion reached the Wimbledon final for the first time in 2015, when she lost to American legend Serena Williams.

In the other semi-final, the 26-year-old Konta, who jumped from the top 150 to the top 10 in the WTA rankings in two years, wasted two break points she was offered. She saw her serve broken three times out of eight opportunities, in a match that lasted for 73 minutes.

Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus is in the final here for the first time since she lost the championship match to her younger sister Serena in 2009.

Venus, eyeing her eighth Grand Slam title, ended Britain's hope for a local women's single champion since Virginia Wade in 1977 and any hope of a British champion in the singles this year as she ousted Konta on the heels of Andy Murray's shocking defeat in the previous round.

"Konta played so well, no point was easy. I just tried to climb on top each time, to get another point, and wow, it was over," Venus said.

"I've played a lot of finals here, it's been a blessing," she added. "I can't ask for more, but I want a little more."