Garbine Muguruza had a lot more rust than she thought at the Qatar Total Open Tuesday night. In her first match since the Australian Open, the world number four had trouble beating Ying Ying Duan in straight sets but got it done winning 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court at the Khalifa International Tennis Centre.
The two met in the second round of the US Open last year where the Spaniard added a shutout against the Chinese athlete to finish in straight sets. Duan gave a lot of fight in the first set and would try to keep it consistent all around. She smoothly got through her opening match against Ons Jabeur bringing a lot of confidence to challenge the world number four.
They both opened with service holds with Muguruza carrying a slightly heavier amount of force behind her forehand. She proved it with a battle in the fourth trying to break the serve of Duan that was a success after two break point attempts. The small victory allowed her to build up a winning streak that went three games to lead 4-1 against Duan. She took a conference with her coach on court to try and help remedy her reactions against Muguruza before serving in the sixth.
She hung on to cut Muguruza’s lead in half followed by a defense in the seventh to sending the game to deuce. A miss on the rally handed Duan a chance to gain back ground on the first break chance but lost it on a shot wide of the sideline. She ended up losing control giving the Spaniard a 5-2 run.
Her serve held together in the eighth but it handed the world number one with a shot at taking the opening set. Duan put some good ball placement in the rallies during the ninth but a clever serve gave her set point which went wide from Duan after the fourth shot ending the set in 36 minutes. Both finished the set with high first serve percentages winning the same number of winners but the 18 unforced errors by Duan gave Muguruza the components to lead the match.
It didn’t get any better for the Chinese player even though she held her opening serve. Muguruza put the pedal to the metal gaining a sizable margin through four games. The applied pressure on Duan saw her up a double break after five that had her coasting to a straight sets possibility. The Spaniard had her opponent in trouble after winning the sixth that put her one step away with Duan serving to stay alive. Duan took a lot of risks to force deuce and held her own to make her opponent get the result she wanted.
Muguruza had some issues on serve as she committed a double fault that gave Duan three break points. The fourth seed double faulted losing out on the chance but went for it in the ninth setting up match point against Duan that went sour on a return in the rally. The 28-year-old forced deuce to follow up by breaking Muguruza on three more match points. After seven breaks and saving five match points, Duan got close down 5-4 with a shot at turning the tide of the match.
With the confidence building up inside her, Duan became a force that frustrated Muguruza from ending her night on court. For just another hold, the 28-year-old force deuce followed by saving more match points. Muguruza was on her eighth match point which saw her go for the ace but decided to avoid another double fault, playing the rally which ended with Duan missing the sideline that brought a relief to the Spaniard after 1 hour and 27 minutes. Both struggled on the second serve with Muguruza’s at 45 percent when it was all said and done. While Duan’s first serve was near the same as her opponent’s serving below 30 percent on the second serve was the key to her missing out on forcing the third set.
“It was a very tough match,” Muguruza said during her on court interview. “It doesn’t really matter how many match points I had, but I won’t and that’s the important part.” With the jitters out of the way having played her first match since Melbourne, Muguruza moved into the third round awaiting her third-round opponent in the coming days.
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