Angelique Kerber fell to a deserved opponent at the Wimbledon Championships’ Monday. The world number one player had a tight race against Garbine Muguruza who played two solid sets in a three setter to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Court Two at the All England Tennis Club. The 14th seed had the slight advantage with her improving game in the match to reach the quarterfinals once again.
The world number one saw her first big challenge on Saturday as Shelby Rogers gave her a scare in the opening set of their match. The German had to fight for control in the second before holding off the American in the deciding set. it was the first set she lost in the tournament and would need to be at her best against a strong contender. Muguruza was flawless in her three matches taking down her opponents with strength on offense. The actions on her part and strategy from coach Sam Sumyk hoped to pay off in the shape of a quarterfinal appearance.
The fight was already heavy between the two as Muguruza dealt with the challenges from Kerber. Her need for a hold came in the shape of two aces landed against the world number one to hold firm in the opening game. Kerber leveled up with tough responses against the Spaniard where deuce came into play for the two of them. They remained on serve through four where the actions of Muguruza and Kerber got into shape that put them on an even keel.
Through the next pair of games, both Kerber and Muguruza remained on serve making it very difficult to see who would take point and control the set as it inched closer to a conclusion. They remained deadlocked through eight decisions but the ninth gave Kerber the push to pressure Muguruza for a shot at taking the set. She had a point on the Spaniard in the tenth where her serve made it count to deal the important win for her after 41 minutes. The German made it clear that the efforts she made to play a simple game worked just as well as having a strong first serve.
She and Muguruza began the second set trading off wins on service that spanned the first four games. The German found ways of matching the Spaniard on service but the pace sat with the 23-year-old who wanted to prevent falling out of sorts in the set. She tried her hardest to go for the break in the sixth as Kerber had moments of losing out in the game. After a few breaks on deuce, the world number one managed to hang on and stay firm on the score giving Muguruza very little to counteract.
She turned the tables on the German in the ninth where a two-game winning streak allowed her get the set locked up and deal with Kerber for another set that concluded things after 45 minutes. The leverage was in the hands of the Spaniard who had Kerber figured out but knew that work wasn’t over going into a very important third set.
They followed the groove of the second and remained deadlocked on serve. It went six games where each move to the match was tight including the seventh. Both players took it to nine long minutes before a winner could be decided. It spanned a few long breaks before Muguruza came out victorious with a 4-3 lead. Kerber didn’t allow the 15th seed to celebrate long as she made it a four all tie in the final set. Muguruza matched her with another big service hold in the ninth to try and go for the lone break that would be for the match.
She made it count huge with plenty of effort in the tenth that brought Kerber to a standstill. Muguruza put the pedal to the metal and finished off the world number one in 2 hour and 18 minutes in what was a very close fight with the Spaniard playing with the slightest of edges to reach the quarterfinal.
She wont get too much time to celebrate as she’ll take on Russian powerhouse Svetlana Kuznetsova in the coming days.
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