Garbine Muguruza fights to win in straight sets against Elise Mertens in Dubai

Garbine Muguruza fires the forehand return during her semifinal match against Elise Mertens at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships

Garbine Muguruza came through her semifinal by the skin of her teeth at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships Friday. The ninth seed dug in deep to somehow prevent a third set against Elise Mertens, who didn’t want to give in easily but fell in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(5) on centre court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. It clinched a third WTA final this season for the 27-year-old and her first in the Emirate city. 

The two met five years ago at the US Open where they went three sets with Muguruza running the Belgian off the court. Mertens got the best of her early, and if she wanted an upset of the Spaniard, it would take a lot of pressure in the right direction. Muguruza went three with Aryna Sabalenka, who wanted revenge from a week back but couldn’t pull it together and let her frustrations take her down. Mertens went after Jessica Pegula after she fell a break down, then scored a bagel in the third set. In another big fight for a spot in Saturday’s final, the two stars would get dug in and see who would come out on top. 

Muguruza got the match underway, scoring two points but a double fault opened the door for Mertens. The 10th seed took the next four points to force deuce and capture the break. Muguruza countered with a break back in the second, making her first step to building up momentum. She held off the Belgian in the third, despite committing her second double fault of the set. Merten’s also had trouble with the first serve forehand, double-faulting at the wrong time, leading Muguruza to score a double break. 

The Spaniard managed to come through clean in the fifth backing up the break with a serve to love, giving her a 4-1 stance. The Belgian struggled back on serve double-faulting for the third time in the set. Muguruza’s height helped out to reach anything from the baseline, delivering it right back to force deuce. After two breaks, Mertens captured an important service that cut the margin in half. 

The ninth seed took her focus into the seventh game, watched Mertens blow rallies with shots hit long and contain service. The Belgian served to keep the set alive in the eighth, doing so with help from unforced errors by Muguruza. The Spaniard served for the set, but it was a challenge from Mertens that made it uneasy. The 25-year-old threatened deuce and killed her opponent’s first chance at the set. On the second break, the Belgian scored the breakpoint that put her a game down from leveling the score. 

The tenth didn’t go the way Mertens planned, trailing on her own service after a costly mistake. Giving Muguruza set point on an error frustrated the 25-year-old, who had to fire a second serve across court only to see it driven back in the form of a line drive winner that gave the ninth seed the set after 52 minutes. Despite having five double faults and winning less than 60 percent of points from the first and second serves, she nailed 13 winners to Merten’s four. 

Mertens didn’t lose any of her fight, making it a difficult opening service game for Muguruza in the second set. The Belgian pressed deuce into action with three breaks but never gaining another breakpoint chance. The ninth seed didn’t let her service in the second go in that direction, scoring the hold of serve on a great lob that Muguruza couldn’t reach. The Spaniard moved on into the third, holding back Mertens from any threat to come through with a comfortable serve to love. 

The next four games were holds of service between the two until Muguruza made a massive push to take back control in the late stages of the set. The Spaniard backed up the hold in the seventh with a break to love in the eighth, taking a big step for a win to make the final. Mertens knew she couldn’t lose against Muguruza’s serve, forcing the Spaniard to play to deuce. The ninth seed gained her first match point on the break only to see a long rally finish with the Belgian coming into the court, smashing a crosscourt winner. 

The 25-year old gained confidence from saving a match point and watched as the Spaniard erred on back-to-back forehands to give her the break. The tenth saw Muguruza threaten once more with two match points only to see them blown away by Mertens, who forced deuce and saved a fourth in the process. It was on the second break that the 10th seed gained a chance to hold serve and did it to send them deeper into the set. 

Mertens gained momentum in the 11th, taking a break from Muguruza to threaten a decider. The Spaniard responded with a break back in the 12th pressing a tiebreak with a crosscourt winner. The 27-year-old opened the competition with a point won on serve before losing the next three straight. She managed to regroup and double break Mertens before a double fault by the Belgian gave her a 4-3 lead. 

A pop fly return and another wide error, brought up a fifth match point for the Spaniard only to see a return land long of the baseline. She still had chances to close it out, doing so on her final chance with the lead at 6-5. Muguruza played a nine-shot rally where being near the net helped her set up the forehand smash to win a dramatic fight in two hours and seven minutes. When it was all over, Muguruza stood on the court shocked that she won after blowing several match points. 

“She (Mertens) is a very talented player,” Muguruza said about her moment after winning it. “She always gives you another ball back and I’m just happy that I could close it in two sets.” She’ll go into Saturday’s final facing the winner between Jill Teichmann and Barbora Krejcikova. “I’m very excited,” she said. “I think it’s always great to be in a final and to have this opportunity holding the trophies. It’s been a tough tournament here playing many matches and very excited about having the last one tomorrow.”