Garbine Muguruza made history once again at the Wimbledon Championships Saturday. The 23 year old achieved an amazing run as she overtook Venus Williams who could get a game after five all in the opening set which ended in a 7-5, 6-0 straight sets match on Centre Court at the All England Tennis Club. It was the second attempt for the Spaniard to take a stab at the Wimbledon Plate and the first for her career. It was the first time in 24 years since Conchita Martinez won the title for Spain.
This was the second time the two superstars met in a final but the first for them facing one another at Wimbledon. They have both appeared on the center court main event a combined ten times with Williams winning five titles on the grass courts in London. The American took their final match at Wuhan two years ago winning her second in the series but watched Muguruza take her two months ago in Rome. While none of it would be in the heads of the tennis stars, the experience was heavily in the hands of the 37-year-old who would seek her sixth while the Spaniard vied for her first ever.
She struggled on the opening serve double faulting right off the bat against Williams. Muguruza rallied back to get control, holding the American back before a strategy to end the rally with a net front lob gave her the victory. The pace was set by the veteran who kept out front on Muguruza seeking a chance in control aside from having plenty of her own on serve. She earned her first love service in the fifth delivering serious power on the forehand and placement that Muguruza couldn’t handle.
The Spaniard had to figure out her own forehand adjusting the way she held the racket to get the shots back across to Williams and stay on point. It led to a deuce draw in the seventh with Williams under pressure but recovered from a double fault in the fourth break. She fired an ace to reach a second game point and put her serve back in control. The American reached 5-4 putting all the stress on Muguruza to hold in the tenth or fall a set down going on.
Williams attacked in the returns beginning with a line drive winner that became her 11th in the set. She managed to reach two set points but a 19 shot rally got Muguruza back into it forcing deuce with Williams. Her efforts to hang on paid her in having another shot at turning the set around as it moved into extra games. The 14th seed got it done in the 11th taking a big step ahead of the American to go for the set by all means possible. She reached two set points on key ball landings inside the court that Williams was fooled on. She fought back to erase the deficit but it came to an end after 51 minutes with redirects faltering for the tenth seed.
It led to serious momentum in the second set in in favor of Muguruza who counterbalanced the answers from Williams making them easy to deal with. She had a 2-0 run followed by a successful finish of the third as the errors were coming up from William’s end for her seventh. While she struggled to recover from the problems.
Muguruza added a sixth straight victory holding Williams to very little in the set as she inched closer to the title. The Spaniard reached her first triple break putting Williams away with a line drive winner for her eighth to serve for the title. Muguruza coasted to three championship points in the sixth game only to falter once on a short rally. The nerve was getting to her as she committed two straight errors. The next rally ended in a challenge from the Spaniard who watched as hawk eye showed the ball landing out to end the 1 hour and 17 minute match what quickly became a huge upset. It was the first time that a player was able to defeat both Williams sisters in a major final.
“It’s such a bomb of emotions,” Muguruza said to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi. “You dream of this once you make it. Few people can do it and feel such a big accomplishment.” “I went out there more calm knowing that I wanted to play and not be afraid of the situation, it’s just experience.”
Venus had nothing but positive remarks for her opponent after the match concluded. “She worked hard today and I know how much this means to you and your family so well done,” Williams said after the match. The toll was taken on her second serve as she only won 61 percent of shots on the second serve and won just 17 of 55 on the returns.
Though the stats showed the difference maker in the match the new champion had a much different point of view. “This was the hardest match of the day against Venus,” Muguruza said during her on court interview. “She’s such an incredible player that I grew up watching her play so it’s incredible to have played in the final with.” “I always dreamed to be here so I was composed. The first set was very tough and both had a lot of chances and I’m glad that I made it.”
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