What had the elements of lopsided, thrilling and stressful was the match that occurred and finished early Thursday morning at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia. Daria Gavrilova went the full distance against Garbine Muguruza who like the Australian had signs of frustration, fatigue and headaches but won a marathon match 7-5, 2-6, 6-7(6) on Corte Centrale on the grounds of Foro Italico. 241 points were played between the two stars in what was the longest match of the tournament this year.
The two were supposed to meet early this season but a pass by the Spaniard gave Gavrilova a spot in the semifinals at Brisbane. With a spot in the round of 16 up for grabs, the world number three would do whatever it took to outduel the Australian in her quest to return back to the semis and beyond in the Italian capital. With time to rest since her run at Madrid, the 24 year old showed herself ready to compete for a chance at her first title prior to Roland Garros.
They started evenly holding serve against one another until the fifth when Gavrilova held then broke the Aussie in the next game to take a 4-2 lead. Muguruza responded with a strong break of Gavrilova reeling her back in after seven with one to go for the tie. She did indeed get the game holding off a break chance from the Australian setting the set to level terms. Despite losing the two game margin to the Spaniard, Gavrilova moved ahead in the ninth with the chance to force a break and close out the set.
The third seed made it her charge to not go down on her service game in the tenth holding for two game points that set up more games to compete in. Much like the fifth game, the fight for the lead in the 11th was a tug of war between the two. They went to three breaks when Gavrilova’s second serve in the rally went long of the baseline giving the 24 year old the 6-5 score with service in her hand. She rallied to 40-0 but gave two points away to her opponent.
It was the last she’d see as Muguruza scored on match point ending the opening set in 67 minutes.
Gavrilova got a huge boost on Muguruza taking her through the first three games without a winner in the Spaniard’s end. Frustration raged out from Muguruza during the break smashing her fist down a few times before going back out to avoid gifting a double break. She responded with a serve to love letting her anger reflect in her power shots beating Gavrilova to get on the board. Muguruza couldn’t bring together another win as facing Gavrilova’s service proved tricky with her opponent’s solid momentum.
In her effort to get back within a game in the seventh, Muguruza went the distance against Gavrilova who wouldn’t give in. They went six breaks on deuce where after 20 elapsed points and ten minutes played, the Aussie came out victorious saving seven break points throughout. It was a heavy hit to the third seed who lost all hope of making it a comeback and double faulted to end things in 46 minutes with a pivotal third set now forced to be played. 16 unforced errors were committed by Muguruza who was clearly rattled in the late stages of the set.
During a maintenance issue with a court on break, coach Sam Sumyk came out to speak with Muguruza who was silent during all his efforts to find out if anything outside of her game was wrong. With a lot of pleads to be low on the forehand and get them over the net, the 24 year old used the advice to break in the opening game.
She built upon her hold in the second and racked up a strong 4-0 run on Gavrilova who was struggling to get into the set at all. She did in the fifth where a much needed hold came to the 24 year old. A double fault from the third seed made it a second straight win for the Aussie showing her regaining control of the set but still with some ground to make up.
The leverage was drastically changing in favor of Gavrilova who showed a lot of force on serve to earn a third straight sitting a game down after seven. She completed the comeback winning her fourth straight that drove Muguruza to the brink on serve even after she recorded her fourth ace. A fifth consecutive game was a huge accomplishment for Gavrilova who continued to see very little in response to her aggressive yet focused style of tennis.
The 10th was the point of whether or not the match would end and despite the extreme late hour of the new day and the near three hours on court. Muguruza somehow pulled together the right moments to smash shots away from Gavrilova to save her life in the match and push forward. The turnaround occurred one more time with Muguruza taking her serve very seriously holding her opponent to just one point in the 11th with the match again in reach.
Both used everything they had left in the 12th to rip the ball apart during the opening rally that went to Gavrilova on a smash. Muguruza gained two consecutive points waiting for her opponent to commit errors keeping her game simple. The smallest mistakes were huge for both that led them to deuce as Muguruza blew match point by double faulting. With another recorded for the Spaniard, the match would go to a final conclusion with a tiebreak. Gavrilova took the first two points before the third seed got on the board.
She leveled the score at two all until she gained a footing ahead of Gavrilova at 4-2. It didn’t last long as two balls wide from Muguruza got the Australian even at four. It remained neck and neck until a shot at a second match point for Muguruza came to light. A rally went into motion with both very focused by as Muguruza went for a forehand winner, the ball landed just wide to keep them going at six apiece.
It was back in her hands to put the pressure directly at Muguruza with her only match point of the night that she did not disappoint on. After three hours and eight minutes, the fruition for Gavrilova came on a lob landing long of the baseline to conclude a long night of tennis ending at 2:03 CET. Although the numbers are staggering for both players, the lesser of unforced errors (41-65) was a huge factor in the final stages of the match that gave the 24 year old Aussie her fourth top five career win.
For Muguruza, the defeat was a huge blow for her efforts to prepare for the French Open in a week and a half dropping her fourth straight loss against a top 20 player. Gavrilova had the win under her belt but very little time for serious preparation as she faced Maria Sharapova in third round of 16 match that would take place in 14 hours.
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