Garbine Muguruza got out of a jam in what turned into a fight for continuance at the Rogers Cup Thursday. The world number four went the distance with Ashleigh Barty finishing strong with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 on Centre Court at the Aviva Tennis Centre in Toronto.
Prior to her thrilling victory at Wimbledon, Muguruza met defeat against the Australian in the Birmingham tournament just days before. The 21 year old went against an opponent with a different degree but with the Spaniard ready in the hard court season, she would give Barty plenty of rush on offense. Barty has shown her strength so far with wins over Oceane Dodin and Elena Vesnina but going against the world number four would be a bigger challenge than two months ago.
She got into a draw with Muguruza in the opening game which went the way of the Spaniard putting all her might into breaking the Aussie. She delivered on her own service in the second before putting the heat on Barty once again. She captured the double break making it an easy dictation for Muguruza halfway into the set.
The world number four stayed on course quickly getting to a 5-0 run that sent out Craig Tyzzer to talk to Barty during the break. With the need to get in front of the ball, the Australian needed to follow the path Muguruza put on her shots and try to avoid the early bagel. She put an effort with two points but the Spaniard was unstoppable finishing the set in 20 minutes with a clean sweep. She had seven winners and 25 points in her flash to victory while holding Barty to just nine.
The Australian knew what had to be done in the second set giving some sort of fight from the forehand. She pulled it off with a well-deserved victory but watched the very next game that Muguruza dictated. The 21 year old battled in the third getting into deuce with the fourth seed before holding her off with another big victory. Muguruza leveled the score at two all but she couldn’t stop what was surprisingly coming from the Australian going forward. Barty was on fire with serious strength that gave her a 5-2 hold on Muguruza looking to go the full distance. The fourth seed got another win but it was over in terms of the set that Barty secured in the ninth.
It became a fight for control with both going into the final set with an even amount of momentum that neither of them saw coming. By the fourth game they were in a dead tie at four all with the notion that one of them would falter. For the Spaniard, she found a footing to hang on to and pressure Barty to struggle. The Australian responded with aggressive moves but in the end, fell two games down with Muguruza closing in on the match.
With the ball in the seventh, Muguruza fired a winner on two game points to take the decisive chance to end Barty in the following game. They went to deuce with Muguruza getting deep into the breaks where a final mistake from the 21 year old brought an end to the three setter in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
“I just needed balance in the match,” Muguruza said after the match. “I started very well in the opening set and the second set she started well so it was kind of a fight. I’m very happy to go through it.” She’ll take on Elina Svitolina in Friday’s quarterfinal making this the second time they met this season. “It will be a tough match,” Muguruza said. “It’s the quarterfinals and its gonna be a tough battle.”
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