Garbine Muguruza dominated once again to finish a key WTA tournament that didn’t go right for her opponent at the Western & Southern Open Sunday. The fourth ranked Spaniard dropped one game in her straight sets victory for the title beating Simona Halep 6-1, 6-0 on Center Court at the Linder Family Tennis Center. Muguruza captured her second title this season while capping her 16th win in the last 18 matches. It was the first time since 2012 that a player defeated both the number one and two ranked players.
This was a third meeting between the two in WTA action and the first playing for a title. The World number six has had serious battles with the Romanian going to three sets in each of their meetings. Halep took their most recent winning two sets in a row back in 2015. With the world number two falling in two of three finals this season, she would have a lot more difficulty playing Muguruza who is having her best season to date reaching the semis or better in six tournaments. The number one ranking was up for grabs in favor of the Romanian if she found a way to win.
It was already proving difficult as Muguruza held serve and made a statement with the consolidation of the break. She continued the solid start securing her service in the third showing dominance early on. Halep found a way to get in a chance to make her service count but something seemed to be wrong with her responses when facing the Spaniard. Muguruza delivered huge points to sweep through the fifth game taking a 4-1 lead.
After another break, Darren Cahill came out to speak with Halep on how to quickly adjust and fight forward. It wasn’t enough as the world number six blasted another victory before swiftly putting away the set in 23 minutes with another service hold. The Spaniard had 81 percent of her first serve shots land across court and 75 from her second serve. Halep’s offense was in the basement with 14 percent in the second and 15 unforced errors through seven games.
The serve to open the second was in Halep’s hands as she knew what had to be done in order to stop the onslaught from Muguruza. The effort was silenced as the fourth seed responded well on the returns earning the opening break of the set. She showed consistency on serve and added a double break to her day getting a big 3-0 lead.
Halep knew that more had to be done and her energy was all in during the fourth game. On serve, the number two seed battled with Muguruza on deuce that spanned seven breaks and 13 minutes. On the 20th point of the game and frustrations high for Halep, Muguruza capped the victory with a winner down the line that made it a 4-0 rout. Muguruza was in full control winning another break and served for the title in the sixth. Halep had very little to show for the day as she got to triple match point where a line drive wide return from the Romanian brought an end to the 56-minute match. The 23 year old set another powerful moment at the tournament breaking an 11 year record of a player winning the tournament without dropping a set.
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