Venus Williams lets her tennis do the talking in Garbine Muguruza win at WTA Finals in Singapore

The 37-year-old American and second-ranked Spaniard went into the encounter with 1-1 records in round-robin play and Williams, making her first appearance in the event since 2009, emerged with a 7-5, 6-4 victory to progress to the last four.

“I’m pretty used to going home after losing, so I knew what the stakes were,” a taciturn Williams said when asked about her approach to the winner-takes-all white group showdown.

Williams refused to dwell on the one hour, 41 minute encounter, instead saying she had already shifted the focus to her next match against the red group winner, most likely to be Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.

“I’m just focused on Saturday, trying to win again. So I don’t know if my levels dropped in the second set (against Muguruza),” she added, before praising the strong crowd support in Singapore where she is appearing for the first time.

Muguruza, who beat Williams 7-5, 6-0 at Wimbledon, admitted she was baffled by her inability to overcome her veteran opponent after following up Tuesday’s group loss to Karolina Pliskova with another painful defeat.