Stanford Classic: Garbine Muguruza storms into semi-finals, CiCi Bellis upsets Petra Kvitova

Los Angeles: Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza swept into the semi-finals of the WTA hardcourt tournament at Stanford on Friday with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ana Konjuh. Spanish top seed Muguruza needed just 62 minutes to get past the fifth-seeded Croatian, breaking Konjuh’s serve five times and never trailing in their first career meeting. “I think today I was very accurate,” said Muguruza, the world number four who is playing her first tournament since beating American Venus Williams in the final at Wimbledon. [caption id=“attachment_3896293” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Garbine Muguruza celebrates a point during the quarter-final against Ana Konjuh. Image courtesy: Twitter/@BOTWClassic[/caption] That gave Muguruza a second career Grand Slam title to go with her 2016 French Open crown. “Ana is such a powerful player and super-young,” Muguruza said. “I knew I had to be concentrated. I’m super happy that I’m through to the semi-finals, and I’m pretty happy with the match.” Muguruza, who is seeking her second title of 2017, next faces American Madison Keys, who beat seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3. “She started off the match well,” Keys said. “I wasn’t overly stressed about it, I knew I could get myself out of that hole. “I’m feeling really good and happy to be out on the court, playing multiple matches. I haven’t had many matches, so I feel like I’m still trying to find that rhythm again.” Eighth-seeded American teenager CiCi Bellis surprised two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-0. The 18-year-old Bellis moved the Czech all around the court, dropping just two games in the one-hour match. Bellis will square off against sixth-seeded American CoCo Vandeweghe in the semis. Vandeweghe rolled over fourth-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3.