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Garbine Muguruza found a way to bring her game together and be on the right end of things at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Sunday night. The Spaniard focused on not going down a third straight time to Dayana Yastremska and forced a third set to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
This was the third meeting in five months between the two stars with the young Ukrainian having a handle against the Spaniard. Yastremska took down the 25-year-old with a strong finish to win her second match in a row against the former world one. Muguruza made her fifth appearance at the season’s first premier five event and would find a way to end her losing ways to Yastremska in order to remain a formidable opponent at a tournament she has done well at. Yastremska went on to win Hua Hin two matches after her defeat of Muguruza giving her a good footing while making her debut. It would be up to her tactics from the previous bouts that would determine the result.
Yastremska opened service to begin the match but fell behind with a surge of returns coming from the Spaniard. Muguruza rallied ahead taking the break to send an early message to the 18 year old. In response, the Ukrainian was determined to break back fighting hard on deuce where they spanned three breaks before she took it. The competition was serious as the players went deuce in the third with Muguruza determined to continue breaking Yastremska. The Ukrainian got into trouble on serve keeping the door open for the 12th seed who wanted to break the pattern for her benefit.
The 18-year-old refused to go down even as she lost control of her service game. She gained three break point opportunities locking it down against Muguruza. A hold in the fifth was Yatremska’s best hold of serve allowing the Spaniard a single point indicating her push for dominance. She consolidated it with a break having three chances to do so but had to play out a short deuce. With a two-game deficit in her face, Muguruza broke back in the seventh to sit a game down wanting nothing more than to level back on the score.
She did it with a solid hold putting together great line drives that took down Yastremska in the final rally of the eighth game. An important hold for the Ukrainian gave her the lead putting pressure on Muguruza to falter. It came on a couple of unforced errors that ended the set in 46 minutes. Despite having five double faults and 16 unforced errors, the serve of the youngster stayed together winning 11 of 18 and 17 of 21 on second serve returns. It took a plenty away from Muguruza’s second serve which finished at 19 percent.
The 25-year-old took a chat with coach Sam Sumyk who told her to give herself some time to make the shots and go after Yastremska’s forehand when she pulls the ball inside. As the second set got underway, the Ukrainian held to gain her third straight over Muguruza but was yanked to a halt in the second. The 12th seed found her groove pulling together a serve to love that took a bit away from Yastremska. It was in the third that she found herself losing seven straight points and an eighth on an error that caused her great concern.
When she called down coach Oliver Jeunehomme, he told her that she was hurrying her shots and changed up to try and hit stronger and win points. Despite the knowledge of what adjustments had to be made, she had a tough time doing so with Muguruza heating up to be the dominant factor in the set. After a few breaks on deuce, it was the Spaniard taking the fourth to sit 3-1 up determined to defend her end.
She couldn’t put the brakes on Yastremska who found a way to hold serve since the first putting back within reach of turning the tables. Muguruza denied her that chance and increased the margin to two with the set at her fingertips. Despite getting the break, the chance of serving out the set went awry with the Ukrainian attacking the second serve of the Spaniard. She succeeded in a break to love that kept her alive.
The 18-year-old had a points streak going into the ninth but errors and an eighth double fault ended her ways. On deuce, Muguruza quickly gained the AD point for the set and took it on an error from Yastremska to send them both to a decider after 35 minutes. Muguruza’s first serve greatly improved to 75 percent winning 15 of 24 and an increase of the second serve return.
Sumyk came down during the break and had a lot of praise to how well Muguruza did in the set. With some advice on how to deal with her opponent’s tricks he also kept her in check to remain composed during every point from here on out. The 18-year-old left the court for several minutes to regroup before the set got underway. With Muguruza still warm to go on, she secured the hold in the opening game before converting a break in the second.
Yastremska got onto the board but continued to trail due to errors on the second serve. The Spaniard clinched another serve to love in the set opening the gap to her advantage. The Ukrainian earned an important hold in the sixth that recorded as her first of the set needing more to combine and get pressure back on Muguruza. Yastremska was running out of time as another service hold or the 12th seed gave her a shot to force everything she had against her opponent to complete the match.
A final chat with Jeunehomme saw her voicing her concerns on how she turned into the ball and that her ankle became bothersome. While there was little he could do about the physical problem, he gave her an idea on how to deal with it for a time. She opened to 30-0 but a short angle brought Muguruza on the board. A tenth double fault got the 25-year-old even followed by a match point chance. It was saved by a crosscourt ace that brought up deuce with a winner to try and save the game.
She got it done with short angled shots but soon faced Muguruza on serve for the match a second time. The first serve didn’t let her down gaining two match points but were soon dissolved by a great fight from the youngster. A winner got the Spaniard back to a fourth match point but she double-faulted at the wrong moment. The next two went the same way with Yastremska finding her way to saving match point but unable to gain the breakpoint herself.
After four breaks and seven match point attempts, a second serve crosscourt came back very wide from Yastremska ending her short time at the tournament completing two hours and six minutes.
“She was playing well the previous two times. I think she played better today as well but I managed to increase my level and win,” Muguruza said during her on-court interview. The victory puts her back in the path of Saisai Zheng in the second round. “I played her also recently and every match here is very difficult at such an important tournament so I’m ready to fight.”
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