Garbine Muguruza suffered a stunning loss at the Toray Pan Pacific Open Saturday afternoon. In what was to be s very tight match ended in a lopsided landslide victory by Caroline Wozniacki
who took control of a majority of the competition with a 6-2, 6-0 win to move into the finals at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. It was her seventh finals appearance this season which concluded in a shocking finish with a terrific performance.
The top seed Spaniard held the series lead against the Dane who earned a default victory against her in Miami early this season. This was the second semifinal that occurred in Tokyo in which Wozniacki won three years ago. The match went three sets with the Dane fully taking over the competition. Things were slightly different going into 2017 as they both had different results setting to the final four. Muguruza held Garcia back just enough to win in straight sets while Wozniacki went the distance before Dominika Cibulkova brought an end to a dramatic three setter. With the Spaniard very much focused for a spot in the final, she would have to stop any sudden charge from the Dane when one came.
Muguruza witnessed the challenge right from the start as Wozniacki made good on her opening service. Adding more pressure came in the second as she forced deuce against the top seed to gain the break. She got it on a forehand shot with Muguruza close to the net but not in any position to return. Wozniacki landed her first ace that led her to another hold of the world number one gaining a 3-0 lead in the set.
Muguruza countered with a two-game winning streak that brought her service together. The improvement was a short moment as her first serve disappeared. Wozniacki countered on that, taking back control to walk away with the set in surprising form. The energy seemed to be out of sorts for Muguruza who couldn’t get the second serve up to pace and the returns suffering heavily. It was a concern that caused many to wonder what else was going on as the second went quite awry.
Wozniacki went on a complete runaway winning game after game with Muguruza making very little happen on the offense. The set remained lopsided with the Dane playing her very best while the world number one struggled. In her hunt for the bagel, Wozniacki attempted the triple break but was suddenly seeing life come back into her opponent’s game. It led the two to deuce where a single break was all she needed to bring an end to the match in one hour.
“Garbine is a great player and I’m playing at a very high level and I just really stepped it up today and went for my shots and I played well so I’m happy with that,” Wozniacki said after the match. “I served well, I played pretty well and tried to stay aggressive and move the ball around.”
With a lot riding on Sunday’s final, she will have a lot riding on making a final match go her way when she faces Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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