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| Garbine Muguruza clenches her first during a round of 16 match with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka |
The defending champion had a big obstacle in her path right from the get-go. In her second meeting with Muguruza, the Belorussian needed her win against her three years ago to linger on the court. The 22-year-old didn’t earn an easy victory against the former world number one, but as a winner of the tournament and one over the Spaniard, she hoped to make a big statement in her second appearance.
Things didn’t go the way Sabalenka planned, as Muguruza shoved her way into the service game, earning a breakpoint late before securing it. She put together a serve to love for good measure, taking a 2-0 lead on the world number eight. The Belorussian dug in further to produce game point but watched Muguruza force deuce in the third. She battled through six breaks and saved four breakpoints but winners from Muguruza broke down the 22-year-old. On her sixth attempt, a line return from the Spaniard scored her the double break after 16 minutes.
Sabalenka opened the fourth with a good chance to break back, but the 27-year-old rallied to force deuce on serve. She fought for the AD point twice before earning a 4-0 hold on the Belorussian. After all the defeats, Sabalenka got into the action with a terrific service game, allowing Muguruza a point in the fifth. The snapping winning streak didn’t bother the Spaniard, who responded with defense against the third taking a 5-1 lead.
The 22-year-old refused to give the set on her serve, holding Muguruza to a point before scoring the win on a well-placed shot on the left baseline. Sabalenka was again biting at the bit and lifting up the dust against Muguruza who she had an edge on in the seventh. The Spaniard fought back to force deuce and saved a second breakpoint before gaining the AD point on the second break. It was there that Muguruza nailed it down to win the set in 41 minutes. It was an even output of offense between the two stars but the second serve of Sabalenka suffered, winning from 4 of 11.
She went into the second set, hoping for improvements, but the first serve caught a snag, allowing Muguruza to rush in for the break. She consolidated it with a solid hold, giving Sabalenka just one point in the second. The Belorussian had a battle against the Spaniard’s momentum, keeping her back to hold the third together. She jumped ahead of Muguruza on serve in the fourth as errors allowed some room to break. She scored the break back on a cooked shot from the Spaniard, getting her level at two-all.
Muguruza continued to rack up the errors on the forehand while her opponent grew confident and reflected it upon her shots. She earned herself another hold of serve for a three-game winning streak that was a clear turn of the table. Muguruza ended her slide with a hold in the sixth, breaking down the run the Belorussian had going. Sabalenka made a statement that her service game was no longer under threat and instead showed the Spaniard her accuracy of groundstrokes.
Muguruza was under pressure in the eighth, and with errors on overcooked shots, she handed the break to Sabalenka who served to force a deciding set. Muguruza took advantage of a vulnerable moment by the third seed, who drew too many errors, blowing her service. The tenth was a fight for every point with the 22-year-old trying to set up a break chance. Muguruza dug in on deuce and secured the first AD point played to keep the set going.
The 11th was another trade-off of points until Sabalenka reached a game point. She again couldn’t get the one important point locked down, bringing Muguruza to deuce. After two breaks and pressure on the Belorussian, Muguruza secured the victory that put the balls in her hand to serve for the match. Her game did not go as planned, finding herself down 0-40 before forced errors by Sabalenka were increasing. She had one left to achieve but the rally for that point ended when Muguruza got into a corner and returned the ball too wide, initiating the tiebreak.
Sabalenka opened up the throttle and fired away with crosscourt shots that helped her out to a 4-1 lead. Muguruza nearly closed the gap, until a forehand drive had enough depth to give her a 5-3 hold. The 27-year-old pulled off a great winner to counter and got to five-all on forehand landing wide from Sabalenka.
She blew the comeback with a ball into the net that handed the Belorussian set point. On the second serve, the 22-year-old played a five-shot rally, watching Muguruza hit a high one to end things in 57 minutes. Sabalenka’s 17 winners and Muguruza’s 18 unforced errors were responsible for the sea change in how the set went along. The third seed won 52 percent from the first serve, indicating how difficult her fight was.
When they opened the final set, both held serve before Sabalenka pressed the issue in the third. Having a break chance set up the Spaniard to fire back and force deuce. She let her opponent make the mistakes that secured Muguruza’s second service game. The third seed was on defense in the fourth as her service was under pressure. Showing plenty of tenacity, Sabalenka came through on a tough point win, keeping the score level again.
To repay the 27-year-old, the third seed ripped the shots for breakpoints, scoring a winner to earn the win and the lead. Sabalenka battled off the break-back attempt from Muguruza on four occasions. After seven breaks on deuce, a smash shot from Sabalenka to bring up the eighth one failed to stay in bringing things to three-all for the Spaniard. Muguruza moved ahead to regain the lead on serve in the seventh and took a shocking break to love in the eighth to serve for the match.
She easily reached three match points as Sabalenka just about gave up until a winner helped her save one. A crosscourt serve came back into the net from the Belorussian that ended a 2 hour and 18-minute ordeal. “We were both playing great,” Muguruza said during her on-court interview. “I had my chances in the second set and I couldn’t convert and she came back stronger. I just fought and stayed there and kept thinking that I’m gonna win.” They played a total of 219 points with errors and winners totaling half that. “I feel like if I have an opponent that is playing great, I have to play better,” she said.
Muguruza will go into the last eight facing Maria Sakkari in what would no doubt be another battle to the bitter end.
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