Australian Open 2020: Garbine Muguruza vs Sofia Kenin, Women's Singles Final, Preview and Prediction

Ashleigh Barty’s dream of winning the home Slam for the first time ever in her career was shattered as she was undone by the exuberance of the 21-year old American woman, Sofia Kenin. In their semi-final clash at the Rod Laver Arena, Kenin, who entered the match against the World No.1 Barty as an underdog, stunned the 2019 French Open champion in straight-sets 7-6(8-6), 7-5 and in the process booked her maiden spot in the final at any major.

The 14th seed Kenin has been relentless so far at the Australian Open and hasn’t dropped even a single set in past two weeks and will now meet the Spanish woman Garbine Muguruza in the final on Saturday at Melbourne. In the semi-final clash between two Grand Slam champs, Muguruza overcame Simona Halep in an intense match that lasted over two hours in straight sets 7-6(10-8), 7-5 and now finds a place in the Grand Slam final for the fourth time in her career, her first instance since her win at Wimbledon, back in 2017.

2020 Australian Open - Muguruza is ecstatic after taking down Halep in the semis

While Muguruza is a two-time major champion, winning the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon the following year, the 26-year old Spanish woman was never able to realize her potential on the hard-court majors up until now and this is what makes her effort to the title clash at Melbourne this year even more special. Enroute her journey to the final, Muguruza has dropped just a solitary set and having defeated the likes of Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Halep on her way, she starts as a slight favourite against Kenin in their upcoming final.

On the WTA tour so far, Kenin and Muguruza have met just once and it was Kenin who emerged victorious 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 in their Round of 64 encounter at Beijing last year.

The 26-year old Muguruza has enough variety in her game and being a part of three Grand Slam finals before, she has the experience of playing on the grandest occasions of the game as well, which augurs extremely well as she hopes to collect her third Grand Slam title at Melbourne, after Paris and London.

2020 Australian Open - Can Kenin win her first Major in her maiden appearance in the final?

On the contrary, having never past the 4th round at a major before, her appearance in the final of the ongoing Australian Open is a huge milestone in Kenin’s career already and it remains to be seen how well she handles herself in perhaps the biggest match of her career so far. Kenin can take a leaf out of Bianca Andreescu’s book as she approaches her first ever major final. The way Andreescu composed herself to counter the overwhelming occasion and Serena Williams to win the US Open final last year can be an inspirational story for Kenin as well as she chases her maiden Grand Slam title.

As far as Kenin is concerned, she played tremendously well against Barty in the semi-final when her back was against the wall and her ability to make her opponent play one extra shot can turn out to be a crucial factor in her final clash against Muguruza.

Muguruza is an aggressive player and with her strong serving and powerful ground strokes, she will look forward to control the contest against Kenin from the get-go as she hopes to win her first major since Wimbledon 2017, especially after performing well below par in all of the majors in 2019.

Can Muguruza, the more experienced of the two, overcome Kenin to win her 3rd Grand Slam of her career or will Kenin, continue her dream run at Melbourne to bring home her first major title in her maiden attempt?

An intriguing and captivating contest awaits us as Muguruza and Kenin will battle it out for a shot at the glory at Melbourne in the women’s singles final of Australian Open 2020!

Prediction: Garbiñe Muguruza to win her 3rd major in three sets.

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