Garbine Muguruza steps into third round in straight sets win at US Open

Garbine Muguruza celebates her second round win at the US Open 

Garbine Muguruza was happy with the results that led her to a second win at the US Open Thursday. The 28-year-old smashed into Linda Fruhvirtova in the opening set, then handled the competition to keep her back in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. The Spaniard handled the tough moments late in the match and put her best to advance forward in the tournament.

The Spaniard did well to improve her offensive output, winning in straight sets against Clara Tauson. Despite not having experience against Fruhvirtova, she would require caution and focus due to the Czech’s strong win over Xinyu Wang on Tuesday. Getting a second win was imperative for Muguruza, who hadn’t posted back-to-back victories in any slam this season.

The start of the set was a bit shocking for the Czech, but more for Muguruza, who watched the competition double fault and lose the service. The early break was consolidated, all while Fruhvirtova struggled with the returns. Muguruza wasn’t at full speed, but the troubles on the first serve for the teen led to another break of serve. She was given no chance to recover as Muguruza served to love in the fourth.

In the fifth, Fruhvirtova tallied just her fourth point of the set, but the service didn’t come around and instead, double faults did. By the time it was 6-0 for the ninth seed, only 19 minutes elapsed, and a clear indication of what the Czech teen had wrong. She posted five points to Muguruza’s 24 and erred eight times while suffering 11 of the Spaniard’s winners.

Fruhvirtova left the court for a moment to try and recover. When the second got underway, she managed to improve with an extra ball to Muguruza here and there, scoring a victory. Breaking the Spaniard proved well as she won 8 of the first 10 points. It was soon 3-0 for the youngster, who looked to completely turn around a bad start and threaten the former world number one. The 28-year-old got on the board in the fourth, but it was still an uphill battle no matter the level of her opponent.

Fruhvirtova pulled off a shutout in the following game, making it look like a third set was on the horizon. Muguruza worked hard on serve in the sixth, digging deep for control of the Czech and notch wins while the opportunity last. After saving three breakpoints in the game, she went after Fruhvirtova in the seventh, gaining two breakpoints before sitting a game down.

Getting even with the teen was not without problems, as she struggled to get the game point. Fruhvirtova climbed back from 40-15 to force deuce but failed to gain an AD point. Muguruza made her pay for that when she committed mistakes that broke her to love in the ninth. She recovered well in the tenth, gaining three breakpoints, but the ninth seed fought back to force deuce. After killing off the fourth attempt from Fruhvirtova, Muguruza produced match points and sealed the victory on her second try to complete her day on court in 1 hour and 10 minutes.