Monterrey (Mexico), April 7 (IANS) Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza defeated Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final of the Monterrey Open, where she will clash with Belarusian Victoria Azarenka to defend her title, reports Efe news.

Muguruza, 19th in WTA rankings, took advantage of Rybarikova's left knee injury and broke her twice at the start of the match to take a 4-0 lead that marked the course of the set on Saturday night.

Rybarikova began moving more and won a couple of games but lost the set 6-2.

In the second set, Muguruza again took a 4-1 lead. Though her opponent regained her ability to respond, managing a break in the seventh game, but could not prevent Muguruza from winning the second set 6-3.

--IANS kk/pcj