Garbine Muguruza came into the Australian Open with the same power and destruction that eased her into the second round Tuesday. Margarita Gasparyan couldn’t find her way to sway the scales and suffered a 6-4, 6-0 loss on Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park.
Despite losing the final of the Yarra Valley Classic two days ago, the surging strength of Muguruza fell only slightly since then. In her second meeting with Gasparyan, the Russian had another big challenge in front of her. As last year’s finalist, the 14th seed wanted to return back to that stage but knew her history with Gasparyan in their three-set battle two years ago. With that being a spot on her mind, the Spaniard would try to come out with the same ferocity she had this past week.
Gasparyan made a surprising push that made it 40-0 on Muguruza in the opening game. Despite her effort, the Russian committed a double fault but found a way to hang on to the serve. Muguruza came out firing against the Russian, completing a strong service game in the second. She consolidated it with a hold in the third, bringing together her stride early. Muguruza once again hit her mark for a 3-1 lead, allowing her opponent a single point. Gasparyan ran into trouble in the fifth on serve. Unforced errors were increasing for the Russian, who tried to contain service.
After three breaks, Gasparyan managed to hold Muguruza back and put away the fifth for her benefit. Breaking the Spaniard was a big statement from the Russian who nailed terrific returns across the court, keeping them away from her long reach. With the set tied at three-all, Gasparyan fought from behind with the hope of gaining a third straight but a final rally put a stop to her momentum.
With the lead back and new balls in hand, Muguruza came in with the forehand and blasted the ball so quick across court that Gasparyan had no chance of returning it. The Russian soon faced her last chance to extend the set and with winners helping her along, she clinched the ninth and upped the ante on the Spaniard. Muguruza knew how important the tenth was, and despite a true battle from Gasparyan, her efforts paid off with big winners that brought up set point. The 14th seed ended things in 46 minutes.
As the second got underway, Muguruza showed her strengths in the shape of quick victories over the Russian. She had two games recorded in the first six minutes that proved her rushing the competition was just one way of projecting dominance. In an effort to try and avoid the double break, Gasparyan tried to bring things to deuce but hit one long of the baseline. Muguruza took a 4-0 lead as she coasted along while Gasparyan struggled to dig into the set.
In the fifth, she did just that taking it to Muguruza, who was forced to deuce. Just when it looked like she would avoid giving up ground, a double fault changed the tide against her. Muguruza gained her second breakpoint and clinched the triple break on a wide return by Gasparyan. She quickly faced elimination as the 14th seed served for the match and a goose egg. Reaching three match points, Muguruza let the first one go long and the second give her the win on a long ball return to complete the second set shutout.
“The first set was a tough battle and was happy that I could close it at 5-4,” said Muguruza after the match. “In the second set I took the lead a little bit early and I played well with my serve and was more dominating in the second one.” The 14th seed completed it in 1 hour and 13 minutes, proving that she had a fire in her heart to overcome what happened last year.
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