Garbine Muguruza showed a lot of intensity and focus to get through her second-round match at the Australian Open. The 2020 finalist kept well ahead of Ludmilla Samsonova, who couldn’t keep up in a 6-3, 6-1 score at 1573 Arena at Melbourne Park.
After such a quick victory in her opening round match, the 2020 finalist got her chance to make it two in a row against the Russian. Ludmilla made good in her second appearance, getting through a three-set battle with Paula Badosa. The 22-year-old played all the way to tiebreaks in two sets before nearly going a third. It was at the tail end of the match that Ludmilla hung on to control how her day would finish. While that wouldn’t be the case against the 14th seed, she would attempt to rattle the Spaniard at any point in the match.
A 40-0 start was quite impressive from Samsonova as she held it together through the remainder of the first. Muguruza responded with a lightning-fast serve to love before going in for the attack on the Russian. Though she didn’t get a break from it, the 14th seed followed things up with another service hold, waiting for her time.
After six games, the Spaniard captured the moment in the seventh, breaking Samsonova for the lead. The 22-year-old continued to fight the former world number one, adding pressure with her quick response returns. Muguruza struck back with big cross courts that broke Samsonova to err twice, giving her a 5-3 lead. The Russian made some strategic points while trying to serve for an extension, but mistakes cost her control which Muguruza took advantage of. The 14th seed had set point in hand, putting the first away in 31 minutes.
The 27-year old’s serve percentage neared 80 percent through the nine games played, limiting the number of errors despite not having many winners. Samsonova committed almost two dozen errors which killed her chance at beating Muguruza at her own game.
The Spaniard opened the second with perfect service to love, showing her opponent no let up on the forehand. With a three-game losing streak, the Russian’s response faltered some more, giving Muguruza another victory. Samsonova continued to be tested as she thought she had a win coming to her, with errors from the Spaniard but her own mistakes got in the way. Muguruza’s big serve got her into some trouble in the fifth, handing Samsonova a shot on deuce to break her. They played the longest of the match, lasting seven minutes before a long return from the Russian landed just long of the baseline.
With a shutout looming over Samsonova, the 22-year-old brought a couple of winners into her fight, just before a smash into the net brought up deuce for the 14th seed. The Spaniard let Samsonova make the errors that brought up match point. Muguruza’s return just fell long, but a second attempt was killed off by an ace. A mistake from the Spaniard killed her control of the point, giving Samsonova a win.
With service in the seventh game, Muguruza forced an error followed by too much on the ball. The Russian erred twice that leveled the score, just in time for Muguruza to launch an ace. Three was the charm for the 14th seed as she had the victory on a final flop from Samsonova. It was another quick victory for the former world number one who finished this one in one hour and 14 minutes.
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