Garbine Muguruza bests Victoria Azarenka in three sets at Rome Masters

Garbine Muguruza wins her way back to a third semifinal at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia against Victoria Azarenka on Saturday.

Victoria Azarenka ran out of gas on the clay courts of the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Saturday. In a tough match with Garbine Muguruza who gave plenty of energy but had to enough for a three-set match that had the ninth seed into the semifinal 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Stadio Pietrangeli at Foro Italico. It marked the third time in the 26-year old’s history where she made the semifinal in Rome and did well to accomplish it. 

This was a fourth clash between the two superstars and the second straight in the eternal city. The Belorussian took that win suddenly in the second set when Muguruza retired from play. Azarenka recently had a déjà vu moment when she was two points into a tiebreak, Daria Kasatkina suffered an injury that forced her out of the match. While neither one was going to let that happen, the two powerhouses who were at their best would go for the coveted spot in the semifinal. 

Azarenka opened service in the match and held despite facing adversary from the ninth seed. The Spaniard’s defense switched over and notched a serve to love showing a stronger response. A double fault came from the world number 14 along with a couple errors that brought up deuce for Muguruza. Gaining break point chances wasn’t an easy task for the 26-year-old who had an AD point on the first deuce but failed to convert it. Azarenka had her chance but an error opened the door for the ninth seed. 

A second attempt didn’t go well which led Azarenka to counter on the 12th point of the game and held. A break was gifted by Muguruza as unforced errors came late in the fourth to open the gap. Unfortunately for Azarenka, a second double fault brought back the unforced errors. With the 30-0 lead, she struck for three break points landing a line drive out of Azarenka’s reach. The 31-year-old climbed back with help from the ninth seed bringing up deuce. She took the first AD point, pulling off an incredible comeback to hold the fifth. 

Muguruza called out the trainer during the sit down to apply new tape to her right foot while Azarenka asked for a new chair because she was sitting too high. When play resumed, Muguruza trailed slightly but managed to hold, cutting the margin in half. The Belorussian returned to her three-game lead with a service hold in the seventh, earning her chance at taking the net. With new balls in hand, Muguruza ran into trouble with errors on her end that forced deuce. 

A mistake on the backhand return from Azarenka brought up a game point that resulted in a hold for Muguruza as a forehand return went long. She made up for her mistakes and in the ninth, Azarenka defended her serve, earned set point, and closed the Spaniard out in 47 minutes. The keys to victory were the serve percentage and her ability to win a breakpoint while Muguruza failed on three tries. 

A second breakpoint converted by the 31-year-old got the second set underway. The Spaniard brought together a triple breakpoint in the following game and recorded her first of the match. The run of breaks lasted four games right before Muguruza contained a strong service, leading the Belorussian 3-2. The Spaniard converted the double break that followed a second one from Azarenka. With six games broken in the set, Muguruza added another for good measure to serve for the set. The world number 14 handled the pressure well as she forced deuce on Muguruza, but a late error on the last point gave the ninth seed the set in 44 minutes. she had more winners and a couple fewer errors than Azarenka, having attained control. 

She continued the momentum into the third, breaking the Belorussian whose game lost consistency. Azarenka broke back but the lead stayed with Muguruza who kept the breaks of serve going. She converted the hold in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead on her opponent who wasn’t at the speed of the Spaniard. Despite the response, Azarenka pulled together back to back winners before drawing an error that later resulted in a hold of serve. 

Her attempts to break Muguruza and level went to deuce on the Spaniard’s winner but after two breaks, she made the breakpoint count. A hold in the seventh turned the tide of control for Azarenka who gained her footing to pressure the ninth seed. Muguruza answered a challenge from the 31-year-old whose court position strategy fell apart when deuce was forced. A key moment allowed the 26-year-old to hold serve and level at four-all. 

A break to love on the Belorussian set up the Spaniard for a good finish where she gained three match points, lost two of them, and came out on top in 2 hours and 18 minutes. With such a strong finish, she'll need that and more going against Simona Halep on Sunday.