Garbine Muguruza stayed cool against the hope of France to move on at the French Open Thursday, the 2016 champion laid down the result she wanted against Fiona Ferro completing the straight sets win 6-4, 6-3 on Suzanne Lenglen Court at Roland Garros.
After a terrific finish in her opening round against Svetlana Kuznetsova, the world number three got put against the young Frenchwoman. Ferro appeared in the second round for the first time but had a big obstacle on her hands. While there is no record between the two of them, Muguruza would school in the young tennis star the ropes of clay court tactics.
Instead of a lesson being learned, the 21-year-old held her ground using both the forehand and backhand shots to maintain a service hold. Muguruza followed the path made by the French youth and matched the skills that her opponent seemed to have under control. A push came in the fourth where the Spaniard had to defend her serve on deuce in the fourth. She got it locked down after a couple of breaks following it up with a break of her own in the fifth to change things up. Ferro remained tough against Muguruza who erred in the sixth handing the break and leveling the score at three all.
The world number three got back out front but couldn’t secure the break thereby letting Ferro threaten the set further. With the chance to end the set on her terms, the 24-year-old gained two set points on serve in the tenth needing just one to get out of trouble in a tight set that spanned 44 minutes. Muguruza showed a lot of composure in her service gave that got her into position with Ferro hanging on to a first serve that carried her fine but more would have to come from the 20-year-old to change the tide completely.
She was broken in the opening game of the second set but held in the third to lead the Spaniard for the first time. It didn’t last long for the 20-year-old as Muguruza answered with a hold in the fourth matching that of her French opponent. Despite struggling with forehand errors, the third seed managed to keep her head up and stay leveled through six. A break turned the tables in favor of Muguruza who took a position in front of the net at times, pressuring Ferro to rush her returns.
A key hold in the eighth sent Ferro to the edge of defeat as she served to keep it together in the match down 3-5. She battled the big forehand of the Spaniard but fell on the final point that landed behind the world number three ending her run at the tournament after 1 hour and 26 minutes. Despite a lot of effort needed to get the hold over the French sophomore, Muguruza would take it and prepare for Saturday’s third round faceoff between either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Samantha Stosur.
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