Australian Open 2020 Final, Sofia Kenin vs Garbine Muguruza, LIVE Score: Both players go for maiden title at Melbourne Park

14:00 (IST)

Alert: The roof has been shut at Rod Laver Arena and will stay shut for the final due to rain in the city

13:57 (IST)

Our readers are favouring Muguruza today in the final. Who is your pick?

We're making our way to the women's singles final between Garbine Muguruza and Sofia Kenin at #AusOpen. Two very unlikely finalists and two women who have had very different runs to the concluding Saturday. Who will win?

LIVE: https://t.co/1MdeZkke7I

— Firstpost Sports (@FirstpostSports) February 1, 2020

13:52 (IST)

Muguruza's road to final:

1R: Shelby Rogers (USA) 0-6, 6-1, 6-0
2R: Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
3R: Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-1, 6-2
4R: Kiki Bertens (NED) 6-3, 6-3
QF: 30-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 7-5, 6-3
SF: Simona Halep (ROU) 7-6 (10-8), 7-5

13:52 (IST)

Kenin's road to final:

1R: Martina Trevisan (USA) 6-2, 6-4
2R: Ann Li (USA) 6-1, 6-3
3R: Zhang Shuai (CHN) 7-5, 7-6 (9-7)
4R: Coco Gauff (USA) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-0
QF: Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-4, 6-4
SF: Ash Barty (AUS) 7-6 (8-6), 7-5

13:49 (IST)

Key stats

• Unseeded Garbine Muguruza is the third Spanish finalist at Australian Open after Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (1994, 95) and Conchita Martínez (1998)
• At 21 years and 80 days old, Sofia Kenin is the youngest Australian Open finalist since 2008 (Ana Ivanovic)
• Muguruza is the sixth unseeded finalist at AO in the Open Era: 3 losses for Mary Pierce in 1997, Amélie Mauresmo in 1999 and Justine Henin in 2010, two champions in Chris O'Neil in 1978 and Serena Williams in 2007
• If Kenin wins, she will be World No.7 and if she loses, World No. 9. Muguruza will be World No. 16 with a loss and World No 12 with a win
   

13:46 (IST)

Head-to-head 

Sofia Kenin won the only match she played against Garbine Muguruza last year at Beijing (6-0, 2-6, 6-2). 

13:44 (IST)

Earlier, Australia's Dylan Alcott won his sixth Australian Open wheelchair quad singles. 

When you win your 6️⃣th #AusOpen title on your home court 🙌@DylanAlcott | #AO2020 pic.twitter.com/4gSKEvTxp5

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 1, 2020

13:42 (IST)

Girls' & Boys' Singles finals also took place today: Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva and Harold Mayot are the Australian Open Junior Girls' & Boys' Singles champions.

Congrats Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva!

The 14 year-old from Andorra wins the #AO2020 Junior Girls' Singles title, def. Baszak 5-7 6-2 6-2.#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/cdhkNXtD5b

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 1, 2020

13:37 (IST)

Former world No.1 Muguruza is unseeded in the tournament but fought through her way to the final, beating Simona Halep in the semi-final. Her opponent Sofia Kenin is the player who could be called the 'find' of tournament. Her previous best was fourth round at a Slam but now she is in the final, beating local hero Ash Barty in semi. Muguruza is a two-time Grand Slam champion but has no Australian Open title in her kitty. Both players will fight today for their maiden title at Melbourne Park.

13:29 (IST)

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Australian Open women's singles final between Sofia Kenin and Garbine Muguruza. It's not the final we expected but both the athletes have defied all the expectations to reach to the summit clash and promise a thrilling contest.

 

Preview: Sofia Kenin upset top-ranked Ash Barty to reach her first final at a Grand Slam, where she'll face two-time major champion and former No. 1 Garbin Muguruza.

The 14th-seeded American had never been past the fourth round of a major until her run at the Australian Open, where she took out 15-year-old rising star Coco Gauff and local hope Barty in Week 2. She says the wins over high-profile players, including Serena Williams at last year's French Open, have set her up for big things.

Muguruza is into her fourth major title match and is the only woman to beat each Williams sister at that stage, defeating Serena at the French Open in 2016 and Venus at Wimbledon in 2017.

Muguruza dropped out of the top 30 after two relatively quiet seasons and is unseeded at a major for the first time since 2014.

"At the end, the racket has to speak out there. Doesn't matter how many Grand Slams you have," Muguruza said after her semifinal win over two-time major champion Simona Halep. “It's a tennis match. Even if you have 15 Grand Slams, you go out there and you have somebody that can beat you.”

With AP inputs

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