Garbine Muguruza had her strategy to outthink Madison Keys go out the window at the Bank of the West Classic Saturday night. The number one seed could not get up to speed on the fast court playing against the quick responsive American. It ended in straight sets with Keys winning 6-3, 6-2 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the campus of Stanford University.
The world number four has another massive challenge in front of her with history standing against her. The 22-year-old has defeated Muguruza twice with the last taking place in Rome. They have a short hard court experience but with years having passed, the two strong contenders will have it out for one another with a spot in the finals against Coco Vandeweghe on the line.
Both began the set with breaks on one another with Keys getting a big edge when she faced the number one seed. The American took point on the scoreboard with Muguruza attempting to match her in the fourth game. She managed to get her first service hold but she was not out of the woods against the tough game of Keys. They went through a few more games where the eighth game became the turning point in favor of the young American.
She broke Muguruza with fierce response on the returns that gave her the edge and a first strike at the set. She reached two set points on the 23-year-old watching the Spaniard’s return fall long on the baseline. It concluded 26 minutes of play with Keys very much in the head of her opponent and a heavy advantage going into the second set. Keys maintained a first serve percentage near 80 and had three times the number of winners that assisted in her quest.
The concern for the Spaniard got worse as she was broken by Keys in the opening game. She recovered strongly by answering the call against the American breaking her in kind. The need for defense on the serve was a big obstacle for the number one seed as her small mistakes opened the door for Keys to force deuce. On the second break a critical double fault from Muguruza gave the 22-year-old another step in the right direction.
Keys consolidated the victory with a strong hold and kept the heat on the world number four. Keys movements and speed on the returns in the fifth were becoming a huge problem as she made it a third win a row. The wheels were coming off on the Spaniard as the unforced errors were falling just outside that made it a runaway for the youngster. Muguruza was on the edge of defeat with the errors racking up at the wrong moment. Keys reached match point but a break for Muguruza arrived on her opponent making the mistake that made it 5-2 and a chance at shot at putting it away herself.
It was to her exact moves that brought her to the ultimate victory in the eighth game to bring an end to Muguruza’s troubled night and win after 57 minutes. On 31 shots on the first serve, Keys made 23 of them count against the number one seed that led to her opponent’s offense in a downspin. The return percentage was no better for her leading to a second consecutive loss to the American.
The destiny of the 22-year-old set up an all-American final on Sunday where she would face Vandeweghe in a winner take home matchup that would give one of them a heavy lead in the US Open Series.
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