Caroline Wozniacki had herself in a great match that ended suddenly at the Miami Open Monday. Sixth seeded Garbine Muguruza showed signs of illness but fought through a tough first set that led to her retirement from the fourth round at Crandon Park Tennis Center. The 7-6(1) score ended what was clearly looking like a fight to the distance.
Two of the biggest tennis stars get back to their rivalry after a two year hiatus. Muguruza broke the winning streak of the former number one getting a huge win at Wimbledon that ended in straight sets. For a second time, they fought for a spot in the quarterfinals where both have an equal chance of standing as the strongest player left in the tournament. The Dane coasted through her last pair of matches while the Spaniard has struggled playing consecutive three setters. The rain delay she had in her opening round took a lot out of her and having to play on back to back days didn’t make it easier. With the day off on Sunday, Muguruza comes in on leveled ground to make it a fair fight to the finish.
The start from the Spaniard didn’t come off so well but a double fault from Wozniacki allowed the sixth seed to secure the opening break. The break continued as Muguruza tried to save her service game in the second but unforced errors kept her from coming back. Wozniacki warmed up just enough to capture her first serve with a shutout in the third to consolidate a two game streak.
Muguruza saw the errors increase during the next two games that made the movement easy for the Dane to gain a substantial 4-1 rout. During the break, Muguruza’s coach Sam Sumyk came out to let his player know that nothing was wrong with her game but that the shots had to be brought in. With the ball in hand in the sixth, she showed some offense making the serves hard for Wozniacki to return on. It ended the three game winning streak and the hope for more to level back in the set.
Muguruza put in a lot of work to keep the winning alive fighting with all she had in the seventh. The Spaniard forced deuce that spanned five breaks back and forth with Wozniacki. In the end, the sixth seed secured another break to go for a chance to comeback full on serve. She got it done with major improvements to the offense that was clearly heating up. She continued to consolidate all her hard work into a force that was putting Wozniacki into pressure. She showed a loss of control that Muguruza countered on to achieve her first lead of the set and a chance to win it with the ball in hand.
Wozniacki made it hard for the sixth seed to get away easily with the set forcing deuce in the process to save the set. Gaining the advantage in the break, the former number one delivered a high shot smash to win the tenth forcing the set forward with the quality of gameplay even. Gaining the break increased the confidence in Wozniacki to hold serve and step into the lead once more hoping to capture leverage in the match.
Muguruza made that very difficult for Wozniacki to get done and put in plenty of work to force the first tiebreaker played between one another leaving it anyone’s to take. Wozniacki jumped to a 3-0 score with an unforced error and double fault leading the way before winning on her own return. When the ball got into the 26 year old’s hands, she fired off an ace that put her in the best spot to get to seven points. Muguruza scored her first point showing good positioning before a shot on the rally killed her efforts. A fifth double fault put the Dane up for set point winning on a return that landed long ending 70 minutes of play. During the break, Muguruza had the trainer out explaining that she didn’t feel well. The trainer took her temperature, blood pressure, and came to the conclusion that retiring was the best of course of action.
“She said she wasn’t feeling that great so I wish her a speedy recovery and hopefully its nothing serious,” Wozniacki said about her opponent after the match.
“She was a tough player,” she said. “She has a lot of power, takes the ball very early and I just had to grind out there and it was tough mentally being up 4-1 and seeing myself down 5-4.” She’ll hope to not have a tough opening set like that when she faces Czech star Lucie Safarova in the quarterfinal.
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