Garbine Muguruza damages Iga Swiatek to advance in Dubai

Garbine Muguruza clenches her first during her round of 16 match against Iga Swiatek at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships. 

Garbine Muguruza played with aggressive tactics that destroyed Iga Swiatek at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships Wednesday. The Spaniard played on the weakened gameplay of the Pole who couldn’t recover in her 6-0, 6-2 result on centre court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. 

The battle of two French Open champions took place in Dubai where one would surely best the other. For Muguruza, her game needed to be as best as it was last week. While she managed to not drop a set in her two previous matches, the consistency and intensity decreased. Having had only one day of rest since her final back in Doha, the Spaniard had to dig in against the Pole, who was back in action after 11 days. 

Swiatek took care of defeating Misaki Doi in her opening round, setting up her chance to take down the 27-year-old. With her game now under a strong challenge since the French Open final, the 19-year-old had to bring her best or face elimination. 

She had some problems on the first serve, giving Muguruza room to maneuver. The Spaniard took the next point for a breakpoint chance before scoring the game from Swiatek. The ninth seed set the first serve with plenty of shots from the body but watched as Swiatek answered her well. They went to deuce where after four breaks, Muguruza managed to consolidate. The Polish teen was under fire once more in the third, double-faulting to give Muguruza a jump on the score. She notched her third of the match, leading the Spaniard to score the double break. 

The 27-year-old backed up the beating on Swiatek with another service hold to earn a commanding 4-0 lead. The Pole tried to fight off her struggles when Muguruza had another 40-0 situation. She got one point to come from the first serve, but it was too little too late. The ninth seed served for the set earning the opening point that saw Swiatek let out her anger. An ace earned Muguruza three set points earning the first with a bagel as the Pole returned wide. 

It was a cruise to dominance in 26 minutes for the world number 14 who drew eight unforced errors from Swiatek. The differences on the first serve were huge with Muguruza dominating from it. 

Swiatek knew that improvements had to come in the second set and after taking a break off the court, she came through with a big statement. The Pole fired off a serve to love only to see Muguruza bring the same firepower. She did get a point from Muguruza on serve, but it didn’t take any momentum away. The 27-year-old consolidated the hold with a break of the eighth seed, allowing her one point while she held to a pair of breaks. It was 3-1 for the Spaniard, who mixed up shots while continuing to look comfortable on the court. 

Swiatek dug into the fifth to hold off the surge from Muguruza’s forehand to secure another hold of serve. She responded positively during her opponent’s service, etching out a breakpoint and secured it while patiently waiting for her to drive a ball past the baseline. With the set tied at three-all, the 19-year-old returned to service scoring a serve to love that gave her the lead. The challenge was on for Muguruza, who saw an improvement in Swiatek and knew that a mistake would prove costly. 

The 27-year-old won the eighth to remain on serve, but the fight was on to take control with the window of opportunity to still win in straight sets. She pulled off a huge break in the ninth gaining control of the score with her serve in play for the match. Muguruza moved well to get after every point scoring two big forehand winners. Swiatek got on the board with a crosscourt return winner, but it was a small gesture. 

Muguruza fired a big crosscourt winner for two match points and won it on an ace crosscourt, securing the straight-sets win in one hour and three minutes. “I knew I was playing a good player so I needed to play well, bring my 100 percent aggressive game and concentrate on keeping the dominance,” Muguruza said. 

While it wasn’t the match everyone expected to see, Muguruza and the fans knew that a rematch of last week’s intense match between her and Aryna Sabalenka was now possible for a quarterfinal. “We just played a tough match,” she said about her match this Thursday. “Back-to-back matches are good which means I’m playing the top players, getting into the deep rounds, and looking forward to another battle.”