Garbine Muguruza survives first round onslaught by Veronika Kudermetova at Tokyo 2020

Garbine Muguruza of Spain clenches her first during a first round match against Veronika Kudermetova of the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

Spain's Garbine Muguruza somehow found a way to continue at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics Sunday. The Spaniard came out swinging early but ran into a long-lasting fight with Russian Olympic Committee athlete Veronika Kudermetova, who pressed the issue in straight sets but went down 7-5, 7-5 on Court 2 at the Ariake Tennis Park. 

The two met once this year where the Spaniard captured her second win over the Russian and remained hot during the Doha tournament. In her second run at the Olympics, Muguruza eyed doing better on the hard courts of Tokyo, where she had experience playing. Despite her success being years ago, the former world number one looked to have no trouble getting warmed up. 

Muguruza jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Russian who had struggles with her serve. With her opponent feeling and looking vulnerable, the seventh seed attacked on serve and broke the Russian for the double and a 4-0 grip of the set. Kudermetova did not want to give up another game and in the fifth, gave Muguruza a tremendous challenge. After forcing deuce, the Russian fought with all her might producing two breakpoints in a row. 

The seventh seed fought them off but struggled on the next pair of AD points to close it out. Kudermetova gained a third, but Muguruza fought it off continuing her search. After a total of seven breaks and four break point attempts, the Russian achieved victory with her tenacity paying off and ending the shutout. Kudermetova had a lot to be happy with that led to her consolidating the hard effort with a hold of serve. 

Getting a third from the seventh seed was not in the cards as Muguruza made a statement on serve to make it 5-2. The Russian tried to extend the set further in the eighth and succeeded with big forehand shots that put her two games down. A massive break of the Spaniard gave Kudermetova a lot of force, getting within reach of leveling the seventh seed, who hadn’t given it her best in the last four games. 

The 24-year-old completed the comeback that made it five-all with her running the show against the Spaniard. After five straight losses, Muguruza managed to etch out a win in the 11^th to take the lead and hope to close out the set for her benefit. She had to fight well in the 12^th and on the final point, the Russian made a forehand error that finished a tough first set that lasted 65 minutes. Both players committed 20 unforced errors, but the late push from Muguruza ended a tough outing and a chance to turn her game around for the better. 

Kudermetova didn’t give her anything close to that satisfaction, keeping the heat on to former world number one that earning a place in the second round would prove difficult. The Russian held well in the second and after Muguruza took the step ahead in the third, she pulled off a serve to love in response. By the seventh game, she had taken the edge off Muguruza, who looked to even up in the eighth. 

She gained three break points before two of them got away from her. It was a key error from Kudermetova that clinched another tie between the two. Muguruza had her moment to strike on serve and gain the penultimate 5-4 stand. Gaining a 40-0 run, the Spaniard let a point go before Kudermetova erred to make the score go in favor of the seventh seed. Muguruza had a match point attempt in the tenth but a rally the two ended with the Russian firing a backhand out of the reach of Muguruza to force deuce. After two breaks, it was Kudermetova denying Muguruza another match point opening the door for her to press a third set into play. 

The Spaniard found a way to get out front once more in hopes that she could keep the Russian back and finish her day on the court. An opportunity came to her in the 11^th when the 24-year-old suffered an unforced error that brought up a second match point for Muguruza. She didn’t let it go to waste as the Spaniard clinched the win that was hard-fought, taking two hours and three minutes to accomplish.