Garbine Muguruza got out of a late jam to move into the GNP Seguros Monterrey Open Saturday evening. The world number three got out of a serious situation in the second set against Ana Bogdan to win 6-0, 7-5 on Estadio GNP on the grounds of the Sonora Club. It was her first advancement to the finals in the tournament with the chance for her first title this season.
This was the Romanian’s biggest challenge of her career with a third career semifinal spot on the line for her facing a former world number one. While this wasn’t a high-level WTA tournament, the opportunity for a big moment stood at the 25-year old’s footsteps. Her three wins including Wednesday’s over American Danielle Collins had her facing Muguruza who has stood and defeated her opponents swiftly. The world number three allowed ten games total through her three victories that including a bagel in the second set against Ajla Tomljanovic on Wednesday. With the ease of making it deep into her second appearance in the tournament, the number one seed looked to keep her pace strong.
She served up a shutout in the opening game to Bogdan who was ready for the early reception. The Spaniard kept the heat on breaking the 25-year-old Romanian that followed with another service hold. Despite the fact that it went to deuce, Muguruza’s cross court shots and winners of the like kept her out front with a 3-0 lead. Bogdan showed a tough time recovering from the deficit committing two double faults in the fourth game with no help from the second serve. It gave the world number three every comfort on court to dictate her way to a runaway.
She took the two required to cap the set with a final battle in the sixth where she broke the serve of Bogdan in two breaks to finish the first set in 26 minutes. Bogdan had a lot wrong with her offense but the power of Muguruza didn’t give her a lot of chances to get into gear. The point alone had her second serve below 30 percent while winning four of nine points on the first. Serving off the Spaniard was also a problem winning 5 of 18 on the returns leaving a lot to be fixed going into the second set.
She somehow got it together breaking Muguruza to prevent a shutout from happening again but hoped to prove her worth on serve. She held the number one seed again gaining a footing in the set that Muguruza trailed after three. It was 3-1 in favor of the Romanian who not only found her serve but put together cross court winners that had her in control. The 24-year-old responded with a strong hold in the fifth blanking Bogdan that brought the margin back to one game between the two.
Bogdan refused to give up any more service games taking the sixth with the hope of pushing the match to a third set. She almost had a double break within reach in the next game but a big comeback from the Spaniard allowed her to deliver key winners to stay within a game of Bogdan. It became a point of who would blink first and for the former number one her battling off the Romanian proved important as the longest rally of the game got her to deuce.
The pressure got to her where after failed attempts to close out the service game went in favor of Muguruza who leveled the score at four all. Bogdan smashed the ball that hit one of the ball kids in the leg leading to the umpire giving her a warning. When the serve returned to the hands of Muguruza, she regained the lead on a long ball error from Bogdan. She had the chance to end the match playing her opponent’s serve which held together getting Muguruza to err on the return side. They went onward with the set with Muguruza still leading the way with another shot at ending the day. With some magnificent defense and counterattacks in the 12th, the Spaniard achieved her main mission setting up match point attempts where after 1 hour and 21 minutes victory came to her on the second attempt.
“I really started playing well in the first set and then the second set was just a battle and I’m really happy that I won,” she said after the match. She’ll face Timea Babos on Sunday where she would try to get back to her past achievements in the tournament while Muguruza hunted down her sixth WTA championship.
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