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Garbine Muguruza had a fantastic day where she dominated on serve to win at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open Tuesday. The second seed put together a lengthy points streak against Stefanie Voegele who showed some fight but not enough to counter a 6-4, 6-4 score on stadium court at CK Sportscenter.
The Spaniard made her way back to the European country in six years making her the heavy favorite to achieve a win before the season finale. With a great run in Hong Kong, it gave Muguruza a sense of high positivity to end the year with a strong push back into the top ten. Though she dropped a rank since last week, the Spaniard being back in Europe would help her try and get a third win over Voegele and first since 2014. The Swiss player has been on a three-match slide and would have herself facing an uphill battle right from the first shot.
She got behind on her serve to give Muguruza a couple break points in the first. She managed to save both of them to force deuce but gaining the AD point was difficult. Muguruza got three tries to get it done winning the game on her fourth break point attempt. Voegele still had something to fight for as she gained a triple break point stance on the second seed but couldn’t hold them. Muguruza rallied to force deuce taking control of the second to hold serve against the Swiss player.
Despite the short gap, Voegele did find her way to hold against the world number 13 but it was just the start of her battle in the set. While the ability to hold her serve was a great asset to have five games in, she still found herself down a break as the Spaniard showed her comfort on court. She captured her first serve to love in the sixth before losing on a break chance in the seventh as Voegele stayed in contention. She took a chat with her coach Ivo Werner who gave her pointers on how to counter the score and find her way out front.
Muguruza didn’t let her do that as she kept her service points streak alive to 14 straight and a 5-3 lead. The service games of the Swiss player were again secured to keep her alive but playing against Muguruza’s was her ultimate fall from overturning the set. The 25-year-old made it 21 points in a row that clinched the set for her in 38 minutes. The comfort of Muguruza’s serve allowed her to dominate from one side where she made 13 winners and four unforced errors. Voegele had no major issues with her offense but playing at the level of her opponent was the difficult task at hand.
She held to open the second set and put an end to the Spaniard’s points streak in the second. It didn’t give Voegele a shot at capturing a break due to Muguruza’s hold which consolidated the break she achieved in the third. The second seed started another point streak against the serve of Voegele reaching five straight before an error shut it down. She struck to hold Muguruza but was feeling the signs of defeat as her opponent inched closer to victory. The 25-year-old held to love in the sixth followed by one from Voegele bringing her within reach of a tie.
Muguruza refused to let up as she made it 5-3 with another dominant service game to put Voegele on the edge of elimination. She held in the ninth before taking a chat with her coach who told her she has what it takes to force Muguruza into a spot and force a decider for herself. The Spaniard started the tenth with back to back return shots in a corner where Voegele wasn’t at. She scored an ace for three match points before scoring another ace to end Voegele in 1 hour and 12 minutes.
It was the seventh ace she got against Voegele completing her serve where she scored 28 of 31 which is unheard when playing the sort of match that went down. With both sides of her offence in great form, the 25-year-old would prepare to be the biggest obstacle at the tournament facing Dayana Yastremska in the second round.
