Garbine Muguruza was once again dominant at the Australian Open to get into the round of 16 Friday. Last year’s finalist rolled Zarina Diyas, who didn’t have tools to threaten in a 6-1, 6-1 loss on Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park. The Spaniard had a clean match and full positivity with the forehand, making it one-way traffic.
The two met for the first time over a year ago with their quarterfinal going deep. The Kazak took Muguruza through the wringer in the second set, building up a lot of momentum. The Spaniard managed to edge her late in the final set to move on and get a leg up. Muguruza had yet to drop a set, but she knew that Diyas could potentially threaten her once more as she reached the third round for the fourth time in her career. With the round of 16 just one match away, the world number 83 would try to lighten the 14th seed and cause trouble on the court.
Diyas opened the match with a good service game, allowing Muguruza just one point. As the Spaniard served for the second, she rushed things so fast to the tone of a shutout. The 14th seed got into another gear, breaking Diyas to love, and defended on serve in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. Diyas started the fifth with a good backhand but her main strike from the forehand produced errors and points for the former world number one.
A line drive landed inside the tramlines, forcing deuce for the Kazak, who had an opportunity to save her service game. Muguruza didn’t let her get that as she handled the second serve, widening the gap. After 17 minutes, the reigning finalist from last season dropped control early in the sixth before climbing back to force deuce. She delivered a smash that Diyas swung and missed on. She took the game on a line drive that painted the baseline, putting the Kazak on notice of a pending conclusion to the set.
Muguruza was all over the ball through every point, earning herself three set points. She blew one of them into the net and got it done in 26 minutes with Diyas returning into the net. The Spaniard had 10 winners to the Kazak’s one, doubling her points win in the process.
Muguruza opened the second with her continuation of dominance over Diyas. Allowing just one point, the Spaniard comfortably stepped to the reception end of the second adding another break of Diyas. It was 3-0 for the 14th seed as marched along, awaiting anything her opponent put together. The Kazak put an end to Muguruza’s nine-game winning streak, securing her second service game of the match.
She nearly took advantage of the fifth but a lob rally didn’t go her way on two occasions on deuce. Diyas was quickly 5-1 down as Muguruza rallied to another break to love, serving for a spot in the fourth round. Diyas struck out the first point but handed one back to the Spaniard with an error to the net. she suddenly caught a break, scoring on a great drop shot. On breakpoint, the players rallied through 29 shots until a crosscourt slice gave Muguruza deuce. A forced error brought up a match point for the Spaniard, who took the victory in 56 minutes.
“I felt good out here,” Muguruza said during her on-court interview. “We played a year ago and it was a very tough match, so I’m happy that today I played a little bit smarter than last time and I could win in two sets.”
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