Wimbledon: Muguruza clears first hurdle in straight sets

Garbine Muguruza had challenges in her opening round match but stayed cool and collected to win at Wimbledon Tuesday. The defending champion completed a straight-sets win over Naomi Broady of Great Britain 6-2, 7-5 on Centre Court at the All England Tennis Club. It was her 33rd win since winning the French Open in 2016 and the first of many under her belt.

The two met during their ITF days where the Spaniard won against the Brit seven years back. Times had changed dramatically for the world number three who came into Wimbledon as defending champion and would do so against the home support. She got just two matches on the grass courts losing in Birmingham but took the time necessary to recover and prepare for her sixth appearance in the third major of the year.

Coming out at the start of the match was a breeze for the Spaniard as she took both her service games and stood a break up on Broady after three games. She nearly had a fourth but saw the Brit hang on to her serve to keep Muguruza back to get on the board. Broady got another one for herself showing that her serve was in gear to get keep her in touch of the number three seed. She got some good points in with the drop shot but couldn’t produce consecutive points as Muguruza made it 5-2 to push for the break and end the set in its tracks.

With three set points to play, the 23-year-old delivered a redirect as Broady ran the other way completing 31 minutes. Muguruza missed only two shots on first serve points won and only had four unforced errors through her run. Broady showed promise in her first serve hoping that the momentum she created for herself would flow into the second set.

After the Spaniard held to open play, Broady used big service shots to maintain her competitive spirit but Muguruza responded in kind. She forced deuce with the 28-year-old going deep for a fight for possession. After a few breaks, two solid aces in a row clinched the game for Broady who carried a lot of tenacity on her shoulders. They went six straight until a near change arrived for the world number three. When she secured the hold in the seventh, Muguruza had three break points against Broady’s serve but watched as the Brit rallied back to force deuce and contain the eighth.

The match was close at hand for the third seed as she played for a second-round spot against Broady who gave very little to her opponent at first but mistakes allowed Muguruza in. She had match point twice in the game but missed it by a small margin letting Broady enough time to push a third set into play. Muguruza answered in the 11th with a rush of serve that gave Broady very little to get in that game adding pressure to staying alive in the match a second time.

She committed two double faults on serve and soon handed Muguruza three match points when on her second attempt, a return shot went far enough where Broady didn’t get on it just right to watch it fall in front of the net. It was a short scare for the third seed but getting her match done in 1 hour and 28 minutes was the first of several hurdles cleared.

Bidding to become just the sixth woman in the Open Era to successfully defend the #Wimbledon title...@GarbiMuguruza is through to the second round with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Naomi Broady pic.twitter.com/nofth88pa9

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2018

“I’m thinking to win and enjoy this time more,” she said to Lee Mackenzie after the match. “I knew she had a big serve and big shots and on grass is always difficult. I found the crowd was very fair to both of us. I’m pretty happy with my serve and controlling my emotions to be back in the grand slam is always difficult but I’m happy with how I am playing.” She’ll take all those good elements into Thursday’s second round facing the winner between Polona Hercog and Alison van Uytvanck.