Spanish tennis has a new hero, and it is a woman. In an era when Rafael Nadal has led a “golden generation” in the men’s game, Garbiñe Muguruza became the first Spanish woman to reach a grand-slam final for 15 years when she beat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in a three-set battle that swung one way, then the other and, finally, back again. Her 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory set up a final against the world No1 Serena Williams, a daunting prospect for most, but one the 21-year-old said she cannot wait for.
“I think it is the best final you can play,” said Muguruza, who is the first Spanish woman to make a final here since Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1996. “To have Serena in the Wimbledon final I think is the hardest match you can have [but] if you want to win a grand slam, when you dream, you say: ‘I want Serena in the final.’ She’s one of the best players in all these years. It’s obviously the best challenge to have.”
The fact that Muguruza has beaten Williams before, at the French Open last year, will obviously help her cause. But Thursday was all about holding her nerve in her biggest match yet, even when the 2012 runner-up from Poland fought back in the second set and threatened to run away with it at the start of the decider.
Overpowered in the first set, Radwanska trailed 3-1 in the second but levelled the match and then broke for 1-0 in the third with a run of six successive games. But Muguruza regained her poise and held on to reach Saturday’s final. The match ended in dramatic fashion when at deuce in the last game, Radwanska, seemingly responding to a suggestion from her team box, challenged a call on her baseline. The Hawk-Eye replay showed it was in, giving Muguruza match point instead of a break point to Radwanska, who glared at her box when the replay was shown.
Muguruza then sent down a big serve and put away a drive volley to win the match. Radwanska evaded questions about where the call came from and said it had been her decision to challenge. “It was a 50/50 call on that ball,” she said,” later stressing on Twitter that it had not been a deciding factor in the outcome. “I decided to challenge. Wasn’t really a good decision. I did it because I’m the one to decide if I challenge or not. Nobody can do that for me. I tried everything I could today, but she was better than me.”
The only sign of nerves from Muguruza came midway though the second set when she suddenly remembered where she was. “I think I was 6–2, 3–1,” she said. “I was like: ‘What?’ I was playing really good. I was thinking: ‘OK, you’re the only one that can lose this match.’ I just got really nervous. And I think Radwanska was waiting for this moment.
“She was [thinking]: ‘OK, she’s playing good. I’m going to wait to see if she can handle this situation.’ She did good. She fought, she won the second set. But I was: ‘OK, be calm. You’re playing against Agnieszka.’ It [was always] going to be a tough match. In the third, I could find a way, as in the first set, to play more aggressive, lose the fear to win the match.” Having lost in the second round on her debut here two years ago and in the first last year, Muguruza arrived with low expectations, especially as she also lost early in her two warm-up events. But wins over Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki showed she was on song and she displayed huge poise to see off the vastly more experienced Radwanska.
“I don’t have words to explain it,” Muguruza said. “I am just happy, I worked all my life to achieve this moment. No words. I was very nervous in the second set so I just tried to fight. It’s a dream, I am in the final of Wimbledon but I really want to win it.”
Victory in the final would catapult the Venezuela-born Muguruza to stardom in Spain, especially in her home base of Barcelona. The only Spaniard to win the women’s title here was Conchita Martínez, whose victim in the 1994 final was Martina Navratilova and who has been working with Radwanska this year.
Martínez, who has just taken over as Spain’s Davis Cup captain alongside her Fed Cup duties, has been in touch with Muguruza throughout the fortnight, offering advice via text message. It is clearly working. “We were laughing when the tournament started,” she said. “I was like: ‘Conchita, I’m not sure about grass.’ She said: ‘Come on, you can play good.’ She’s telling me every day, every match: ‘Keep going, you’re doing great.’ Giving me power.”
Muguruza said Spain’s women still have a way to go to match the feat of their men. “It’s tough,” she said. “The men’s in Spain is amazing right now, so many players. We say it’s like the golden years of the Spanish tennis. I think I’m doing good. I think I have a chance [to lead Spanish tennis in future]. There’s also Carla [Suárez Navarro] from Spain. She’s top-10. Maybe we can make it a competition with the men.”
