Simona Halep vs Garbine Muguruza Australian Open Semifinals Odds & Pick

Updated: March 18, 2021 at 2:03 pm EDT

Published: January 29, 2020

Swiatek vs Teichmann — Poland's Iga Swiatek hits a backhand return to Romania's Simona Halep during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021.(AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza will battle for a spot in the Australian Open final tonight at 11:30 pm EST
This will be the sixth time the players have faced each other
Halep has yet to drop a set during the tournament

Two former World No. 1’s, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza will play each other in the semifinals of the Australian Open, with hopes to book their ticket to the Grand Slam final. The 26-year old Spaniard has the head to head edge over the two, winning three of the five meetings between the two players.

But the current World No. 3 has yet to drop a set in the 2020 Australian Open, and just beat her quarterfinal opponent in under an hour. Simona Halep is the favorite to win this match.

Simona Halep vs Garbine Muguruza Australian Open Semifinal Odds

Player	Spread	Win	Total
Simona Halep	-2.5 (-125)	-165	O 22.0 (-105)
Garbine Muguruza	+2.5 (-105)	+130	U 22.0 (-125)

Odds taken Jan 29.

Simona Halep

Simona Halep booked herself a ticket to the Australian Open semifinals after defeating No. 28 seed Anett Kontaveit. The former World No. 1 beat her opponent without dropping a single set, winning 6-1, 6-1 in just 53 minutes.

Halep started off strong, not allowing Kontaveit any room to breathe, as she landed 78% of her first serves for points and was able to break her opponent five times. In Kontaveit’s first Grand Slam quarterfinal, she was ultimately not able to keep up with the reigning Wimbledon champion.

The Romanian never let up, continuously applying the pressure, making sure she tracked down every ball and was able to put her racket on it. She played around with the game, changing up her shots and getting creative.

At the risk of falling prey to recency bias, I have to think I just watched the woman who will win the 2020 Australian Open.

Simona Halep enjoying the fight, point by point.

Destroys Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-1 to reach the semis. pic.twitter.com/q5SSI0y8mN

— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) January 29, 2020

Kontaveit wasn’t able to break Halep’s serve once all match. On top of that, Halep recorded 12 winners, which included five aces, and only 10 unforced errors. Kontaveit on the other hand, although recorded 15 winners, also had 15 unforced errors.

Garbine Muguruza

Unseeded Garbine Muguruza fought her way to the semifinals of the Australian Open with a win against No. 30 seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She beat the Russian in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in just over an hour and a half. This will be the first Grand Slam semifinal Muguruza has played in since 2018, after six tries.

The 26-year old Spaniard started the season on a high with a semifinal match in Shenzhen and made the quarterfinals in Hobert. But the former World No. 1 has been struggling to get back in the past two years.

In the opening set, the Spaniard was down a break twice. The set lasted 57 minutes itself, and it could’ve gone either way. Both players played aggressive and traded games until Muguruza was able to break at 7-5 to avoid a tiebreak.

Garbiñe Muguruza firing on all cylinders, defeats No.9 seed Kiki Bertens 63 63 to return to the quarterfinals @AustralianOpen.

19 winners, 18 UFE from Muguruza, won 90% of her 1st serve points. 1st B2B Top 10 wins at a Slam since winning 2017 Wimbledon. #AusOpen

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 27, 2020

When it was time for the second set, Muguruza was dialed in. She didn’t face a break point, and completely dominated and dictated the rest of the match.

Halep vs Muguruza Head-to-Head

Halep

Muguruza

2	Career Matchup Wins	3
0	Sets Dropped During the 2020 Aussie Open	2
13	Aces During the 2020 Aussie Open	23
3	Current World Ranking	32

Garbine Muguruza owns the head to head wins over Simona Halep that dates back to 2014. Muguruza has also won the last two matches where they’ve faced each other, but they haven’t seen each other since 2018.

“It’ll be a tough match. That’s the case no matter when you play the Top 5. It’s a semifinal, so of course I’m expecting her to bring her best game.” – Muguruza

All of Muguruza’s wins over Halep have been on hard courts. This is Murguruza’s first Australian Open semifinal, and Halep is the reigning Wimbledon champion. who has yet to drop a single set this tournament.

Best Bet: Simona Halep (-165)

Hayley Graham

Sports Writer

A graduate of Sport Media at Ryerson University, Hayley is the ultimate student of sports. Whether she is playing it, watching it, debating it, or writing it, it's safe to assume sport consumes the majority of her life. She has worked both internationally and with the NBA.

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