Garbine Muguruza was the biggest victim of the ladies draw at the Australian Open. In a very hard fight from Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh the 32 year old battled through the heat and the superstar to win 7-6(1), 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena Thursday. It became the biggest win of her career knocking out the Wimbledon champion to advance to the third round. The heat was no doubt a major factor for the Spaniard who dwindled up and down losing to a strong competitor.
The world number three got through a tough match that was complicated by her recent leg injury. The Spaniard had moments of grimacing through her straight sets win over Jessika Ponchet but managed to dig in deep to win. With a day to recover and light practice, she hoped to get things done against the Taiwanese star who went on a roller coaster in her first round.
Hsieh’s match against Lin Zhu was incredible overcoming a first set down 0-6 to win in a shutout in the second. She went to the brink against her opponent to win 8-6 in the tiebreaker ending a dramatic day. With Muguruza not at full potential, the match would have moments of lead changes in favor of the unseeded star.
They began with breaks with Muguruza getting the ball rolling on that front but trouble of a heavy kind work against the Spaniard. She found herself down 3-1 with Hsieh getting the double break after five games elapsed. The Taiwanese star kept her end strong defeating Muguruza once more before the Spaniard somehow got a win before the break. She had the trainer come out to deal with a blister which was taken care of swiftly to get the third seed back in action. She proved her worth by winning her serve in the eighth in an attempt to climb back to compete.
A break in the ninth was a solid show of force to the 32-year-old which in turn produced a hold to love for Muguruza leveling the score at five all. She couldn’t make it four in a row as Hsieh held her service game in the 11th putting all the hardship on Muguruza to win a chance at the tiebreaker. She did so winning against Hsieh on the second break of deuce to push an opportunity to turn the set around.
Hsieh made it hers to win as she remained faster and stronger than the third seed taking a hold of the tiebreak. Hsieh got ahead 4-0 before Muguruza ended the shutout. It was all the Spaniard had in response as she watched the Taiwanese player win the next three straight ending the set in one hour and six minutes. Muguruza had way too many errors to her winners and trouble gaining break points when they were available.
The Spaniard got herself a hold of serve after fighting the for the AD point briefly in the first. Hsieh was challenge on serve in the second going to deuce where Muguruza extended the fight through three breaks until an error from the third seed handed the 32-year-old a victory. She added two more before Muguruza gained back lost ground to hold in the fifth. The heat was becoming unbearable for the two as the mercury rose to 101 while the court was even hotter.
Hsieh handled the extreme weather in the form of a fourth win against Muguruza holding herself to keep the offense high. She broke her in the seventh that really put stress on the world number three to save herself against the unraked Taiwanese player. Hsieh gave her free points and opened spots on the court that gave Muguruza a break chance. A shot that Hsieh didn’t get to challenged only to find out the return from Muguruza was in. The 24-year-old dictated the ninth with well-placed shots that were negated by unforced errors bringing Hsieh back in it. A 17-shot rally ended bad for the set leader but she was saved by a critical point that got over the baseline to force deuce. She saved a match point and held after the second break sitting just a game down after nine.
With a third chance to end Muguruza, Hsieh began with an ace that caught the line followed by another that was erred by the Spaniard. She handed Hsieh match point where she played one final rally delivering a 25th winner catching the corner to bring an end to things in 1 hour and 59 minutes. The match saw both finishing with good first serves but the second serve took a toll on Muguruza who won just 8 of 32 attempts.
“It’s always challenging against a good play on center court,” Hsieh said during her on court interview. “I was keep hanging in there and tried to play my shot and be positive. I know she was going to give me a lot of pressure especially when I was leading.”
She had a real show of force that would be something Agnieszka Radwanska would be looking to focus against as she takes on Hsieh in the third round Saturday.
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