BNP Paribas Open: Williams retires after first set to hand Muguruza R16 advance

Serena Williams went from looking good one day to not being able to play at all at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday. The American who had three quick game wins in the first set lost the next six straight before a respiratory issue took her out of commission. Retiring from play handed Garbine Muguruza the 6-4 win on Stadium Court One at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The two met for the sixth time and the first time in the desert making it a big matchup. The former world number one owned her on the hard courts giving her the advantage in their faceoff two years in the making. Both had good starts to their opening matches having yet to drop a set in the tournament. While it was likely that one would lose out, the leverage stood with Williams who was trying to increase her strength since returning to action.

With Muguruza on the receiving end, the 37-year-old blasted pure ball striking at the Spaniard. She let up enough to be forced to deuce but Williams put it away easily to stand ahead at the start. Muguruza tried to match the level Williams put up but it was not enough to avoid giving up a break. It was soon a 0-3 deficit for the 25-year-old who couldn’t do much against the American’s service and the windy conditions on court.

She gained a hold in the fourth needing two breaks on deuce to get it done which was the beginning of a serious turnaround. Muguruza got aggressive in the fifth breaking Williams for a breakpoint before consolidating that with a hold to love in the sixth. A huge break made it four straight with the winners coming more often and the ability to keep the errors low. With the lead in hand, the Spaniard tried to keep Williams at bay in the eighth.

A backup of the break for the Spaniard made it five straight as she had a hold on her end with Williams unable to bring back the intensity she had back in the third game. It allowed Muguruza to easily reach three set points as Williams rushed through her serve that saw the speed dramatically fall. After the set was in the Spaniard’s hands in 36 minutes, the American called for the physio during the break but they were taking some time to get there. When she arrived, Williams spoke about pain in her left leg but didn’t take a medical timeout.

What a shame - Serena Williams is forced to retire from the match with @GarbiMuguruza leading 6-3, 1-0.#BNPPO19 pic.twitter.com/SrbaekZg6C

— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2019

She walked back out to her end where Muguruza fired a winner to begin the first game. It was quickly a shutout for the Spaniard which saw Williams slowly walk back to the chair. She complained about the inability to breathe and called it quits after 46 minutes. Despite the unfortunate end that her opponent went out on, the ability for Muguruza to up her game in the face of adversity got her back into the round of 16 where she'll await the winner between Kiki Bertens and Johanna Konta on Tuesday.