Dayana Yastremska earned one of the biggest wins of her career at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open. With a numerous amount of winners, the young Ukrainian took down former world number one and two time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-3 on Stadium Court inside CK Sportscenter.
The two met for the first time making it a big challenge for the Ukrainian who had the tenacity to keep her winning ways alive. She recently came off a huge victory at Hong Kong clinching her maiden WTA title last week. As a rapidly rising star of the sport, the 18-year-old would try to add an upset of a former world number one which she had yet to accomplish in her career. Muguruza was back in form after her solid run in Hong Kong winning three straight. After a solid win against Stefanie Voegele, the second seed would vie for a spot in the quarterfinals by any means.
Yastremska held to open the match despite having a double fault come from her serve. She showed her power on both sides of the racket to keep Muguruza at bay. After the 25-year-old held in the second, Yastremska laid down a serve to love showing her challenge to the Spaniard going forward. She was pushed to deuce in the fourth but held to keep the Ukrainian from inching ahead on the score for long.
Muguruza had yet to receive an easy service game as the 18-year-old forced deuce in the sixth hunting down a break chance. Her forceful energy took a toll on Muguruza’s second serve which caused her to commit a third double fault. It was just enough to give Yastremska a fourth break point chance after the fifth deuce to take the game in hand. Her attack on Muguruza’s second serve returns worked to open a 40-0 lead before giving up one to the Spaniard and taking a 5-2 stance.
The former world number one was in a tough spot for the first time in a week as the Ukrainian teen had herself set for a positive standing. She put the finishing touch on the set landing blistering winners against Muguruza that were too much for her to handle. Yastremska won it on the break of deuce to lead after 35 minutes having 11 winners to her name and four unforced errors. Both players took conference calls with their coaches with Oliver Jeunehomme pleased with his athlete’s pace while Sam Sumyk told Muguruza to try and overcome the deficit after having a dozen errors made against the teenager.
More came as Yastremska held to start the second putting the Spaniard under a lot of pressure. The youngster was fast at the returns keeping a strong serve over Muguruza. She added a break in the second before being broken back in the third. The breaks continued with Yastremska still holding the lead for a moment which led to her gaining a double break. Muguruza struck back in the fifth earning the same accomplishment before taking a chat with Sumyk who told her that it was up to her to make things happen on the court.
She answered his comments with a hold in the sixth but was again trailing with the Ukrainian back out front. Jeunehomme came out during the break to inform Yastremska to take her time as the score remained close for her opponent. A key break for the teen in the eight gave her the chance to serve for the match and mark a big moment for her young career. With match point in her hands, Yastremska put an end to a five-shot rally where Muguruza returned the ball wide ending the match in one hour and nine minutes. The 18-year-old once again showed her fiery style of tennis scoring 72 percent of shots won on the first serve and 71 percent when facing Muguruza’s service game. She scored 23 winners in her match and limited the errors despite having 11 of them come in the last set.
Despite the drop of performance, she will be going into Thursday facing Margarita Gasparyan in her second quarterfinal in a week’s time.
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