Wimbledon 2017: Garbine Muguruza crushes Magdalena Rybarikova in hopelessly one-sided semi-final

It took Muguruza just one hour and four minutes to blast her way into the final

The 23-year-old is hoping to win Wimbledon for the first time (Getty)

Garbine Muguruza stormed into the Wimbledon final with an utterly comprehensive straight set win over Magdalena Rybarikova on Centre Court this afternoon.

The match lasted one hour and four mintues, Rybarikova won just two games and was broken five times out of seven. It was an absolute exhibition from Muguruza, the 2015 Wimbledon finalist, who effectively rendered Rybarikova irrelevant during their brief time together on court.

Muguruza insisted afterwards that it was “not easy”, even if it looked it, which it certainly did as she picked Rybarikova’s game to pieces. “I have to say Garbine played an amazing match,” Rybarikova said. “I never saw her playing that well, even when I played against her, she never played that well.”

Muguruza played even better than she did against Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last two rounds, dominating throughout from all over the court and never letting up. Rybarikova looked blown away and even at her best she was prolonging games more than winning them. It meant that Muguruza could wrap up the win so quickly that she can relax and prepare for Saturday’s final, which will be a very, very different contest.

From the moment when a Rybarikova double fault gifted Muguruza her first break, it was clear that the two players had arrived with different approaches “Obviously I was a little bit nervous in the beginning,” Rybarikova admitted afterwards. And after holding her serve Muguruza then broke again, with a mobility that overwhelmed her opponent. At 4-0 down Rybarikova looked utterly lost. “I had no idea what to do on the court,” she said.

It was only with the first set effectively gone that Rybarikova started to play anything vaguely resembling tennis that has got her that far. When she finally held her serve to make it 5-1 she was applauded by the Centre Court crowd who had hoped to see more of a contest. Muguruza swiftly held to close out a brutal 30-minute 6-1 first set win.

Muguruza has made it into her second Wimbledon final (Getty)

What was so frustrating for Rybarikova and the crowd was that the second set followed precisely the same pattern as the first. It barely mattered that Rybarikova was playing better than she did at the start. Her service game to open the second set lasted longer than most, but it went the same way. Muguruza broke her yet again.

Rybarikova had to break Muguruza, if only to prolong the match, but when the Spaniard’s ace made it 2-0, there was no prospect this going the distance. Muguruza broke for a fourth time but just when it felt as if the second set might be 6-0, Rybarikova dug in and won a hard-fought service game in which she saved two break points. It did not change the outcome but it did at least slow it down.

Rybarikova was blown away in her first Grand Slam semi-final (Getty)

So Rybarikova managed to take the match beyond the hour mark, but not far beyond. It was another break of serve that did it, her fifth, Mugurza utterly dominant as she had been from the very start. She will take some stopping. “If she plays like this,” Rybarikova said, “she has a huge chance to win it.”