Muguruza wins first title of 2018 at Monterrey

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Garbine Muguruza put together a massive comeback that earned her the first WTA at the Monterrey Open Sunday. The former number one down heavily in the opening set got aggressive to defeat Timea Babos in a dramatic three setter 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 at Estadio GNP Seguros on the grounds of the Sonora Club. It was the 24-year old’s first title of the season in what was a full-time effort on her part.

The series between the two has been very lopsided since 2016 with the Spaniard winning all three of their meetings in the WTA. The 24-year-old world number three won at the midpoint of tournaments over Babos two years ago during what became her breakout year in Grand Slams. The Hungarian had a lot to prove back in Mexico with the chance to reclaim her title that she won in 2012. With a lot of effort, the fourth seed in the tournament had just one chance to get the best of Muguruza in what was their first shot at a title in the 2018 season.

She had a good serve to start the match against Muguruza fighting to prevent break points to her opponent. The second game saw the two play the short game sending the competition to deuce that lasted a few breaks before the Spaniard captured the win. They began to up the pace but after six games, it was Babos out front due to Muguruza’s two unusual double faults on her last serve. The gap being open for the Hungarian led her to blanking the number one seed in the seventh a game down of the set.

Serving to stay alive, Muguruza kept things together cutting Babos’ lead by two games with the need to defend against the Hungarian’s urge to close out the set. It took some time in the ninth but after two breaks, the 24-year-old captured the lead in the match leaving plenty of concern for her opponent after 47 minutes. The Spaniard wasn’t quite herself out there making three double faults through the game with two winners and a 52 percent service game. Her coach Sam Sumyk came out to give her advice on how to change up her game and hang in. Thomas Drouet gave Babos positive compliments while telling her to remain consistent as she delivered 10 winners while serving 61 percent on the first serve.

The second was still heavily weighing for Babos as she watched her opponent double fault a fourth time in the match losing straight to love. Babos didn’t give much when her serve came to play putting in all the aggression to beat down the Spaniard. It only led to another double fault in the third but she somehow steadied her game to get on the board ending Babos three game winning streak.

Muguruza showed signs of fighting back to challenge Babos winning a break in the fourth with the hopes of reflecting the same efforts on serve. It was a serve to love for the number one seed who took the lead before taking a chat with Sumyk where she vulgarly expressed her anger during the break. After Babos got even in the sixth Muguruza remained in a fighting spirit but had to play deep in the seventh going six breaks before a return landing short of the line gave her the 4-3 lead.

Muguruza continued to hold herself out front in the set trying with all her energy to put a third set in play. The victory she gained in the ninth had the Hungarian under pressure to act on serve and force the set further. She almost had it locked down with severe winners striking the ball but the same came from Muguruza who wanted to end the set first. She got it after Babos was distracted for a moment before erring to hand the Spaniard one chance to still win the match with a third in play. It was 53 minutes of drama from both ends where the former number one improved on serve winning 68 percent of points notching 13 winners. Babos had a lot of good factors in her game giving the indication that she wasn’t done hunting down a place she had been before.

It began as a tight race with Muguruza leading the way on serve through three games with Babos following suit in the fourth. They remained deadlocked on serve until the sixth when the Spaniard held for the break landing a supreme winner behind the Hungarian. A hold for her in the seventh was just another big statement of her returning dominance that had her up 5-2 with Babos out of ideas. She took a final chat with Drouet who told her that it was on her to make a comeback and telling her to work for it.

The 24-year-old avoided being defeated for the moment but the ball was in Muguruza’s hands to serve for the championship. While there were some tense moments for the Spaniard, she got it done and dusted in 2 hours and 20 minutes. “We had such a good match,” Muguruza said during the trophy presentation. “Were gonna meet in the next tournament so gear up,” she said to Babos.