Muguruza moves to brink of WTA Tour Finals last four with straight sets win over Kerber

Garbiñe Muguruza won for the second time at the WTA Finals ©Getty Images

World number three Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain took a giant step towards qualifying for the semi-finals at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Singapore with another confident display which yielded a straight-sets victory over German Angelique Kerber.

Muguruza, making her first appearance at the season-ending event, surged to a 6-4, 6-4 win to move to the brink of the last four.

The number two seed, who earned a 6-3, 7-6 success against the Czech Republic's Lucie Šafářová in her opening match, fired 38 winners past the German, who remains in contention to progress to the next round despite her defeat to the Spaniard.

In the other singles match to take place today, two-times Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitová bounced back from her loss at the hands of Kerber by beating Šafářová 7-5, 7-5 in a nervy contest.

“I'm really glad that I was able to play and win that kind of match after my loss in the first match here,” Kvitová said.

“For sure it was a difficult match.

“I know that Lucie wasn't really healthy weeks ago and I'm just happy that she's here as well.”

The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova recovered from her opening defeat with a straight sets win over Lucie Safarova — The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitová recovered from her opening defeat with a straight sets win over Lucie Šafářová ©Getty Images

Kerber came into the contest with Muguruza in buoyant mood following her win in her first match in Singapore but the Spaniard was the first to strike, breaking in the third game.

But the German broke straight back in a frenetic opening to the encounter before both players held serve until the Spaniard edged 5-4 ahead, giving her the chance to serve out the first set.

Despite Kerber having a break point, Muguruza held her nerve to take the opener before she built on that momentum by racing into a 4-2 lead in the second.

The 27-year-old German levelled at 4-4 before the second seed seized the initiative once more, serving out the match to improve her record at the event to 2-0.

The victory for Muguruza maintains her dominance over Kerber as the Spaniard had already claimed wins over the German at the French Open and at Wimbledon.

Today's results make for a nailbiting finale to the White Group, with all four players still able to reach the semi-finals.

In the red group of the doubles competition, Swiss player Martina Hingis and Indian Sania Mirza made it two wins from two by beating Czech duo Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká, who have now won one and lost one, 6-3, 6-4.

Hungary's Tímea Babos and France's Kristina Mladenovic won for the first time and subjected a second defeat on Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears with a 7-5, 6-2 win.