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Garbine Muguruza got a pass she didn’t expect to receive at the French Open Monday evening. The 2016 champion was ready to take on Lesia Tsurenko, but the Ukrainian had a bad beat suffering a strain in her upper left leg that brought the match to a halt after a 2-0 lead in the opening set. With the pain too great for Tsurenko to play, she was forced to retire from action in the fourth round on Court One at Roland Garros.
The two players have been at one another before splitting the series since 2017 with the Spaniard taking the Ukrainian last season at Wuhan. This was their first match on clay making for some interesting results.
The Spaniard gave her best on Saturday to continue looking for another title at Roland Garros. Her strong win over Samantha Stosur made it clear of the world number three’s intentions to keep all aspects of her game in shape to make a quarterfinals appearance possible. Tsurenko played in her second round of 16 major and would look to possibly adding a quarterfinal to her list of career achievements.
Muguruza opened with a break to start the match but as they got underway in the second, Tsurenko showed an immense amount of pain in her upper leg that stopped play at 30-15. She took an unusual medical timeout leaving the court for a time.
She returned to action forcing deuce but couldn’t secure a break which gave Muguruza the 2-0 lead. Tsurenko pressed at her left thigh which was tightly taped up in the third and before the first point could be decided, she called it quits after 20 minutes.
The unexpected win for Muguruza makes it essential to have all the energy possible to take on the upcoming rounds of the grand slam. In her way is returning French Open champion Maria Sharapova who also received a pass from her round of sixteen match against Serena Williams. There would be no doubt that both superstars of the sport would put together an exciting match on Wednesday.
Who do you think will win the match between Muguruza and Sharapova? Let us know in the comments below!
