Muguruza stops Williams in three sets at BNL Internazionali D'Italia

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Venus Williams ran out of gas to stay consistent Friday night at the Italian Open. The former champion of the tournament couldn’t keep up against third seeded Garbine Muguruza who took it 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 on Campo Centrale on the grounds of Foro Italico in Rome. It was the first time the 23-year-old made it this deep and stands as the highest-ranking player left in the tournament.

The head to head series has been one sided since 2013 when Williams first defeated the up and coming star from Spain. Despite losing all their of their meetings, Muguruza has been a strong player so far in the tournament taking care of Julia Goerges yesterday in straight sets. The defending champion of the French Open hoped that with her struggles, she could hold off the American and capture the final coveted spot in the semifinals.

She started things off with a break of Williams followed by a strong control of serve. It was a momentum that had her in fine form carrying herself to a 4-0 run against the former number one. She continued to read the actions of her opponent which beat Williams on net front shots and volleys. With a need for slight change, the American forced deuce on the serve of the Spaniard and went for the break on deuce that came in the form of a line drive. She got on the board after 17 minutes but still had a three-game gap to overcome.

She wasn’t given a chance as Muguruza held her end in the sixth to go up 5-1 and put the former number one in a bad spot. Williams gained more time in the set with a hold of serve in the seventh but she was ousted thereafter with Muguruza pulling off a love service to close out the set in 29 minutes. Williams had just 12 point winners in the set scoring well below what it would take to bring down the Spaniard who was on the mark in her offensive push to be in full control.

The notion of that was the focus of the American to serve well in the second and start on a good footing. The second was a little difficult for Muguruza as she found herself in a draw with Williams for the early fight of leading. The two went to a couple of breaks before the world number seven could lock down a service win. Despite the good work on serve, it was Williams who led the way in the set waiting for the right time to capture the opening break. It arrived in the sixth with some key winners to Muguruza that made it a 4-2 hold.

Muguruza got another win under her belt but the momentum was not in her favor making it difficult to switch up the pace. Williams acted in the eighth with a force of power that enabled her to dictate the remainder of the set. She got the best of Muguruza that pushed the match to a third set after 1 hour and 13 minutes had already elapsed. The score wasn’t the only thing to be turned around as clearly the games of both players went up and down respectively. Williams was a full improvement of the first and carried with her a chance to keep the pressure on Muguruza.

Williams got the first game under her belt with a break of the number three seed but it was short lived to become anything more positive. Muguruza rushed through games with help from the Americans unforced errors. Her struggles were increasing that left the Spaniard to take a 3-1 lead. It was soon a runaway for Muguruza who kept her game together positioning herself two games from the match and pressure weighing heavily on Williams.

She somehow put together an important hold but it wasn’t enough to stop Muguruza who tore through her own in love service, setting up a chance to play for the match in the eighth. She delivered to hard winners to Williams who saw the inevitable coming and handed the third seed match point. It was brought to a close with a return landing wide ending the 1 hour and 43-minute battle. Her second serve carried the majority of her offense landing 13 of 18. While the return side of her game struggled, it was the power she had over Williams that gave her a step in the right direction. For the second time this season, she’ll face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina who she took down at Indian Wells back in March.