Garbine Muguruza has reached the semis in Stanford, CA at the Bank of West Classic Premier event. The current week is just another solid run for the 23-year-old Spaniard who seems to be continuing the momentum from Wimbledon, the recently ended Grand Slam which she won. Given the lack of consistency of the top WTA players, it's nice to see at least one of them surging from the early start of US Open Series. Muguruza managed to pick herself out of the sink, especially after failing to defend the French Open crown. She fell outside the top 10 only to bounce back after Wimbledon.
US Open Series is perhaps the biggest challenge of her seasons. In the past, she made a little noise during the summer swing on hard court while at the US Open she never got past the second round. And a correction must be made as Muguruza is by now a two-times Grand Slam champion.
Garbine Muguruza could use US Open as a launching pad for the world No. 1 spot
Throughout the past two or three months, the world No. 1 spot's contenders debate revolved around Angelique Kerber (former world No. 1), Karolina Pliskova ( the current holder of the seat) and Simona Halep who came at a one match-close two times in the past months. Surging from behind, Garbine Muguruza is about to close the gap. Her run in Stanford will further fill up the space between her and the third spot.
Approaching the US Open, the Spaniard could use her current rhythm to leapfrog the competition. All other three players ranked above her ( Pliskova, Halep, and Kerber) will have to defend various amounts of points. Pliskova and Kerber will have to keep safe more than two thousand points each while Halep around eight hundred.
On the other side, Muguruza's record from last summer is not that great as her only worth-being mentioned result was reaching the semis at Cincinnati. As things look at the moment, she and Halep have the best shot to clinch the summit after US Open.
A few unsolved businesses in Stanford
Currently ranked fourth in the world, Garbine Muguruza was given the No.
1 seed status in Stanford. Thus she received a bye for the inaugural round. En route to the semis, she got past Kayla Day (129 WTA) in the round of 16 while in the quarterfinals she cruised past Ana Konjuh (20 WTA). She will battle against Madison Keys for a place in the final. If she reaches the last act in Stanford, she will face the winner of an all-American semifinal as Coco Vandeweghe will take on Catherine Cartan Bellis. If she wins this tournament, Muguruza will come just behind Kerber on Monday when the rankings will be updated.
