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Garbine Muguruza had to fight to keep herself in the tournament at the French Open 2019 on Sunday. The Spaniard trailed against Taylor Townsend early but struck back with four shutouts to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 on the first match ever played on Simonne-Mathieu Court on the grounds of Roland Garros.
The 2016 champion began her eighth chapter in Paris facing off against the American for the first time. After pulling out of Rome suddenly in the Round of 16, the Spaniard took the week to prepare for the second Slam of the year and try to begin her quest for another title in Paris. Townsend made her sixth appearance and attempted to make the second round for the fourth year in a row. Despite facing a former world number one and a player accustomed to clay, the 23-year-old had just as good of a chance to move ahead if her skills were locked down.
She made sure to hold serve during her opening service game, getting through it swiftly. Muguruza followed it up with a patient opener, showing her strength but not rushing the game on serve. Townsend saw this as a chance to counter in the set and after playing five games on serve, the American went for her shots. Striking in the sixth, Townsend went after the forehand of Muguruza to jump ahead on the score and force a deuce. Achieving the AD point gave her the first break and a two-game buffer.
Muguruza scored the break back in the seventh game, looking to get back on track with Townsend. Scoring a serve to love was the order of the day for the Spaniard to even up at four-all and both battled for control. Townsend refused to give her opponent a double break opportunity and held in the ninth game firmly to earn a shot at breaking for the set. The American responded well with line drive returns to counter Muguruza’s cross court but going against it consistently resulted in her playing more tennis.
The 23-year-old showed no problems playing on in the sixth and secured her chance to serve big at Muguruza and go for the break. With three set points, Townsend got her wish and shut out the Spaniard to win 7-5 after 48 minutes. Attacking the second serve of the Spaniard was the key to victory as her opponent struggled with the 15 unforced errors made late in the set.
She again faced the solid game of Townsend who put down another service hold to begin the fresh set. Muguruza answered with a hold before breaking the American, showing her running in the right gear. The 25-year-old rallied to blast returns at Townsend to score the break and consolidated it with another hold in the fourth game. Her 3-1 stance opened the door for opportunities, showing a better hold of serve with aggression in tow. She notched up another break as improvements put Townsend on notice for the match to go the distance.
Serving for the set in the eighth game, Muguruza pressured the American to struggle on the return side, gaining two set points in the process to end 35 minutes of play with a crosscourt winner. It was the 13th to come from the Spaniard who increased the second serve and gave a beating to Townsend’s overall offense, scoring 57 percent from the first and 28 percent on the second serve.
The 23-year-old didn’t let that bother her as she opened the deciding set with a great hold over Muguruza, setting the bar high. The 19th seed had fallen behind during the second but forced deuce to continue the fight. The game went on for five minutes until she managed to secure the win after two breaks. The next two saw Muguruza get a firm grip of the set scoring shutouts on Townsend for the break and consolidate it with a hold to love in the fourth game.
A double break showed that the Spaniard had taken control of the match and was ready to put Townsend away. Holding serve in the sixth game was a cakewalk for Muguruza who stood with a 5-1 hold to put the American one game away from a loss.
She fell behind with the second serve letting her down. A net front smash handed the Spaniard three match points but saw one saved by the 23-year-old. She added another on a line drive leaving just one standing between herself and deuce. An error from Muguruza made that possible as she gained momentum to come out of it with a win.
Her intentions to make the 25-year-old serve for the second round were evident but facing aggression became her demise. Muguruza had the first serve on point, scoring big winners against Townsend to achieve three match points and earn one last shutout to complete the win in 1 hour and 59 minutes.
“The match was very difficult against Taylor,” Muguruza said in French during her on-court interview. “First round matches are always difficult and she played very good and I’m very happy to be able to get through it.”
She’ll look for a better turnout with one victory under her belt and will face Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in the second round.
