Marta Kostyuk bounces Garbine Muguruza from French Open

Marta Kostyuk clenches her first during her first-round match at the French Open with Garbine Muguruza.

Garbine Muguruza was dealt a huge loss early at the French Open Monday. Ukrainian up and comer Marta Kostyuk earned the biggest win of her career defeating the former French Open champion 6-1,  6-4 on Court Simone Mathieu at Roland Garros. An injury for the Spaniard became too much to deal with as she struggled to perform her best. 

The two met for the first time making it an interesting first-rounder for each of them. Kostyuk invested a lot of time on the clay courts, while the Spaniard battled off injuries. Though her dominance has carried her through many matches this season, time off to recuperate and prepare for the year’s second slam was what Muguruza needed to win the French Open for a second time. This was just the second entry for the Ukrainian and the first time facing a former world number one.

She earned a big step on the Spaniard, denying her a breakpoint before taking it on the break of deuce. Kostyuk backed it up with another fight that saw the Ukrainian gaining two breakpoints that soon gave her a 2-0 stand. Kostyuk added another for a third in a row against Muguruza, who didn’t look her best. She etched a victory out on serve in the fourth, but it was the only one she achieved as Kostyuk was on a roll. 

She went on to secure a strong service in the fifth before adding another break to the score. Things looked dreary for the 12^th seed, who went down 6-1  with Kostyuk performing her best. It was clear that a lower back issue was bothering Muguruza, who called for the trainer during the set break. She was given a medical timeout to figure things out while leaving Kostyuk out on court alone to keep warm. 

After a few minutes, Muguruza returned to take the opening game of the second set showing no signs of pain in her back. She defended three breakpoints from Kostyuk before holding on to the second break of deuce. The Ukrainian responded by a fight from Muguruza that brought them to deuce but managed to hold. The Spaniard made a push to create a gap, allowing Kostyuk two points in the third game. 

Muguruza went on to break her apart in the fourth jumping ahead for the break. She failed to consolidate in the fifth giving Kostyuk a break back, but the margin remained in favor of the 12^th seed. Kostyuk scored a quick-serve to love in the sixth that leveled the score and her hopes to get Muguruza behind her once more. 

Getting the best of her on serve was huge in the seventh as Kostyuk jumped ahead and scored the break to back up the shutout. She consolidated masterfully in the eighth to lead 5-3 with Muguruza on the ball to save the match from coming to an end. She managed to force deuce in the final moments, scoring a victory on an error from the Ukrainian. 

She still had a chance to get it done in the ninth, drawing an error from Muguruza, another that brought up three match points. The next point went to Muguruza on an eight-shot rally, but with two match points, Kostyuk clinched it on a terrific cross-court winner completing the biggest win of her career that took 1 hour and 29 minutes to accomplish.