Melbourne: Former world number one Garbine Muguruza defeated world No. 3 Simona Halep in straight sets to reach the Australian Open final for the first time in her career on Thursday.
Muguruza's 7-6 (8), 7-5 victory sends her to the title match against 14th-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States.
"You start day by day, that's what I was doing. Very excited to be in the final, it's a long way to go. I have one more match on Saturday.
"I wasn't thinking I was down. I was thinking, 'keep going and at some point you're going to have your opportunity'. I know I was facing Simona so it was going to be a hard match. So I was just hanging in there and fighting with all the energy I had," Muguruza said after the match.
The Spanish ace has previously won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017. However, she is an unseeded player in this tournament.
Muguruza had taken the first set in a tiebreaker. She broke Halep in the seventh game and fended off a break-point chance in the next to hold for a 5-3 lead.
She was broken at love while serving for the set, then saved two set points in her next service game.
Fourth-seeded Halep had another two set points in the tiebreaker before Muguruza clinched it 7-6 (8).
