It was a first-time faceoff between the two players with the Spaniard looking to heat up her time on the clay courts. A run to the final in Rome ended in defeat but her surge of victories gave her experience to dictate her opponents. The Slovenian faced a second straight match in the opening round where she drew a top 20 opponent. With only three matches on clay, Zidansek had an uphill battle to deal with against the former 2016 champion.
She held to open the match but soon faced the Spaniard who got into trouble on serve. Zidansek was with her in the second to force deuce which then led to a long stalemate. The Slovenian produced seven breakpoints with Muguruza fending off a majority of them. She was troubled with the fact that she only had one chance to hold serve on deuce. Zidansek continued to produce the opportunities and after 14 minutes, she earned the break on the 23rd point. Adding pressure to the 11th seed, she took a 3-0 lead with her service paying well.
Muguruza ended the Slovenian’s winning streak putting together a serve to love in the fourth. The fight for her comeback was on as the 26-year-old fought tooth and nail in the fifth, threatening with a break chance. Zidansek forced deuce but faced Muguruza who produced the breakpoints. After three attempts, the Spaniard earned the break back, sitting a game down. A good old leveled the score at three-all giving Muguruza the surge required to regain control. A double break for her earned her the lead and a 5-3 hold.
Zidansek put a stop to the four-game slide, with a service hold in the ninth, and broke the 11th seed to extend the set. Muguruza broke back to go up 6-5 with the balls in hand to serve for the first. Gaining two set points, the 26-year-old notched her sixth double fault leaving one remaining. A good forehand smash near the net put her efforts in the rally to rest, completing the comeback in 59 minutes. The unforced errors to winners ratio for Muguruza were the key to her success on serve as she recorded only eight errors and notched 13 winners at her opponent. With the first serve at 73 percent, the 11th seed had what it took to conduct a better outcome going forward.
Zidansek opened to service in the second, needing very little time to complete the hold. She then went after Muguruza’s taking the Spaniard to deuce. The game was drawn out but after two breaks, the 11th seed managed to hold serve. Breaks of serve followed before Zidansek got back on track with hers in the fifth. Muguruza followed suit before going for a key break to take the lead in the seventh. Zidansek broke back in the eighth, giving one point to the Spaniard in response.
Muguruza tried to lock down the hold of service in the ninth, but the attack from Zidansek was a tough one to keep back. The 22-year-old got ahead in the ninth, took the game away, and served for the set in the tenth. Having Muguruza on the ropes, the Slovenian gained set points and clinched the second to move to a decider after 50 minutes.
The third set ran one way in favor of Zidansek who had control of the first three games with a break in hand. Muguruza had problems on the court that included a hesitation on the returns. In the fourth game, the Spaniard turned things around with a victory on serve before adding a break of Zidansek. The Slovenian fought to try and break Muguruza for the second time in the set but after three breaks, it was all tied up at three.
The seventh was a true fight for Zidansek who got into it with Muguruza who had a shot at breakpoint but couldn’t hold the Slovenian back. They went to deuce six times only to see the Slovenian hold, sitting two games from an upset. Muguruza held serve to stay with her opponent as the finish line closed in. Zidansek set the bar in the ninth, leaving her with the first opportunity to play for the match.
Muguruza shut it down, as she opened a gap in the tenth and watched as a drop shot attempt from Zidansek fell wide. When the serve returned to her end, the 22-year-old made sure to work every point and hold serve. A great forehand achieved the 6-5 score with Muguruza serving the 12th for a further extension. The Spaniard accomplished the game to move into extra frames of the set.
She broke Zidansek in the 13th scoring on a crosscourt strategy that ended with a change in her groundstrokes. Serving for the match, Muguruza made every point count, scoring a winner and then an ace down the T. Zidansek answered back with a sliced winner and made it 30-all on an error from the 11th seed. The Spaniard reached match point on a shot that bounced off the net giving Zidansek very little time to return. After three hours and a minute, Muguruza had the victory on a key point that put her night to rest.
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