Garbine Muguruza rushes to victory at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia against Johanna Konta

Garbine Muguruza put the moves on Johanna Konta to advance at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia on Friday

Garbine Muguruza had her eyes set on advancement and with so much focus, that was how her day went along at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Friday. The Spaniard played a close set with Johanna Konta and took off with the match in a 6-4, 6-1 score on Pietrangeli court at the Foro Italico. 

The two players met for the fifth time with one guaranteed to have bragging rights over the other. The Spaniard took the most recent victory at the Australian Open last year. With red clay being undetermined between them, the chances leant heavily with Muguruza. The world number 17 got into the third round after fighting to the brink with the youthful Cori Gauff. It was clear that her training on clay brought out of the best of her in Rome and vied to do so again. Konta’s win against Irina Camelia Begu on Thursday did remain in straight sets but her wait to get into action left her with little competitive action coming against the resurgent Spaniard. 

Service holds were the order of the start of the match with Muguruza leading the way. She got into some trouble in the third but came out firing aces that assisted in her efforts to hold. Konta carried similar qualities in her service games that included good court positioning with a smash for key points. The Spaniard remained in check, continuing along with her game before a shot at breaking Konta arrived. 

Big returns opened up three break points for the 26-year-old but being forced side to side by the Brit helped her close the gap. On the second break of deuce, Konta avoided the break and kept the set on serve through six games. The two held serve through a total of nine games until a move from the Spaniard, who played for the set was up two breakpoints. 

With an edge over the Brit, the former world number one forced an error from Konta to end a very tight race to a conclusion in 42 minutes. Both served at 62 percent with Konta winning more points from the first serve. Muguruza’s second serve was on fire and made the difference to be a set ahead. 

The Spaniard opened the second with a surprising jump to control. After a hard fight to maintain serve, Muguruza was up 3-0 despite her serve being under attack in the third. Konta knew that her slipup was costly and rallied back to hold the fourth allowing Muguruza a point. Despite the quick improvement, the 26-year-old answered in the fourth with a serve to love, sitting two games from the match. 

Showing tremendous focus, Muguruza found it easy to move and place herself on the court against Konta’s service. It gave her the break needed to stand at 5-1 and serve for the match. Reaching three match points with ease, the Spaniard completed the victory that to 1 hour and 22 minutes to accomplish. Unforced errors came too much for the Brit who let it get out of hand and fall hard. 

With a move into the quarterfinals she’ll face Victoria Azarenka who suddenly moved ahead after an incident with Daria Kasatkina forced her to stop playing.