Babos delivers blow to Puig at Monterrey Open

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Timea Babos made it look too easy at the GNP Seguros Abierto Monterrey Friday evening. For the first time in six years, she reached the semifinals with a well-rounded 6-4, 6-2 win over Monica Puig at GNP Stadio on the grounds of the Sierra Madre Tennis Club.

The two met back during their ITF days where the Puerto Rican won over Babos in straight sets seven years ago. Since her run at Miami, the 24-year-old Olympic gold medalist has been on a push to increase her dominance in the game and become a tougher competitor to those she faced. Her wins over Nicole Gibbs and Stefanie Voegele have her just a few matches from her first WTA title of the season.

The Hungarian found herself back in Mexico trying to return to the top like she did in 2012 winning the title. The efforts in Wednesday fight against Naomi Broady gave her victory in a three setter that nearly went two consecutive tiebreakers. She would no doubt see a challenge from Puig as the Hispanic had a lot of popularity in the recent locations she has played at.

She came out in fine form winning both her opening service games with Babos performing the same feat. Babos gave herself an easier way of conducting her serve on Puig by landing winners on the T making the returns very difficult to get back. Putting her offense in play on Puig’s serve allowed her the first break of the set with the hope of making it stand out in front of the number five seed.

She took control leading 4-2 after another solid hold put Puig on the hot seat to recover lost ground. The 24-year-old held the seventh but was under pressure as Babos hunted for the fifth win she wanted to possess. The Hungarian battled with the Puerto Rican through a couple of breaks before her own redirect gave her the win. Babos tried to go for the break but was shut out by Puig’s clean serve to love that put her a game down from pushing the set onward. Babos took a conference with her coach who told her to intensify her offense and get the set done. It was achieved by the number four seed as she reached three set points before a short rally came to a close with Puig’s return landing wide of the sideline.

While there was a lot of good moments in the 36 minutes it took to finish the set, the objective of Babos to maintain her dictation at the right moment paid off. She served 62 percent on serve with four aces, eight winners and just three unforced errors. Puig had trouble from the start returning against her opponent winning on one of 11 attempts.

Her overall game continued to slide at the start of the second set trying to get out of a 0-40 hole but falling to the fourth seed. She continued to struggle giving Babos another lead in the match. Puig ended the losing streak briefly in the third but watched Babos keep her two-game buffer together. It looked as if the Puerto Rican lost ways of coming back against the fourth seed who was clearly having her best day on court taking another break from Puig.

She made it 5-1 with a really impressive display on serve where one game stood between her and a semifinal spot. The attention went to Puig in the seventh serving to stay alive in the tournament. She pulled off two winners and an ace before getting the win on smash that came back long of the line. Babos felt no worries going back on serve for the match in the eighth getting three match points against her opponents unforced errors. An ace near the line brought an end in one hour and three minutes in a very good display of dominance.

With all the elements going right, she’ll prepare for Saturday’s match against American Sachia Vickery who is on the hunt to make her presence known on the WTA tour.