Garbine Muguruza clenches her fist during her second-round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Sydney Tennis Classic
Garbine Muguruza had to finish strong in a challenging victory of her match at the Sydney Tennis Classic Wednesday. The Spaniard rushed through the opening set only to see Ekaterina Alexandrova challenge her in the second. Despite a second set tiebreak, the second seed won 6-1, 7-6(4) at Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Park.
This was their third meeting with each getting a win over the other. Prior to the pandemic, Muguruza scored a critical win over the Russian that led to her winning Shenzhen. With it being on the hardcourt, she would have a slight advantage, despite it being her first match of the season. Alexandrova had her work cut out for her in a 6-4, 6-4 battle against Ena Shibahara. With plenty of effort, she felt capable of breaking through against the Spaniard.
Muguruza didn’t give her a window of opportunity in the first, opening with a serve to love. The second seed broke Alexandrova to love in the following game and backed it up with another love service. A double break gave Muguruza a massive 4-0 run, but the Russian got the message and fought to get out front in the fifth. The Spaniard managed to force deuce on serve, gaining the break to make it five in a row.
Alexandrova blanked the second seed for her first win in the sixth, but it was too little too late. The power player finished off the first in 25 minutes, edging the Russian for set point and scored the set lead. Alexandrova had two double faults and an offense that was silenced scoring four of nine and two of five from the second serve.
When time came to open the second set, the 27-year-old made sure to hold her end of the court well. She backed it up with a late break of Muguruza, but fell during her next service in the third. Muguruza leveled the score after four and stayed tight with Alexandrova through eight games. A huge fight ensued in the tenth that spanned 13 points. The Russian had set point at 40-15 with Muguruza behind on serve. The Spaniard fought back and saved two more to force deuce.
The 27-year-old had three more chances to force a deciding set only to see them vanish with Muguruza determined to keep the second set alive. On the fourth break, the Spaniard got the needed win to try and turn the tables. Alexandrova put all her troubles aside and went into the 11th game shutting the second seed out. When it looked like she had leverage, Muguruza held firm on serve, allowing one point and brought up a tiebreak to be played.
It was there that the experience of the former world number one came to light during critical moments. The 28-year-old went up four points before Alexandrova got on the board. Muguruza added two more to have match point opportunities. Like her opponent had three games back, the second seed struggled to contain match point four times. At 6-4, Muguruza got herself out of trouble with a winner that concluded a tense moment, ending 1 hour and 26 minutes.
With her first match of 2022 under her belt, the world number three would have another Russian on the horizon in the shape of Daria Kasatkina, who she would face in Thursday’s quarterfinal.
No comments:
Post a Comment