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Shelby Rogers couldn’t contain the grip and grit of Garbine Muguruza at the Shenzhen Open Wednesday. The former World No.1 one ripped the ball hard to earn her second victory in a 6-1, 7-6(2) win on Center Court at the Shenzhen Longgang Sports Center.
The two met four years ago at Roland Garros, where the Spaniard took down the American on her way to the title. With a good finish to her match against Xinyu Wang, the World No.35 eyed to put a second victory over the head of Rogers. The 27-year-old broke ahead in the third set to down Gibbs for the second time in her career. A win over Muguruza would put her on the fast-track to the last eight.
The match didn’t go at a fast pace as Rogers gave the Spaniard challenges when she had two game points. She managed to hold and then found a way to break the American in the second. The fight continued with Rogers pushing Muguruza but unable to break her, despite forcing the former world number one to force deuce in the third. The 27-year-old got on the board, saving her own service game winning on the break.
Muguruza had enough of the fight Rogers was committing and won the fifth game with four points played. She went on to break Rogers in the same amount coasting to victory in the seventh to win 6-1 in 31 minutes. The American committed three double faults that were her demise on serve while being outscored 30-17.
The second set saw the players run neck and neck with the American setting the bar early. Muguruza followed suit but needed deuce to save her. She got it out of the way, breaking Rogers for a 2-1 lead. The American broke back to level the set, which soon put them back on serve. It went on through nine games where Rogers took the 5-4 stance looking to press Muguruza another set.
The Spaniard denied her the chance bageling her in the tenth to force more action in the second. Rogers once again pressed the issue of gaining more time in the match with a win in the 11th, but Muguruza’s momentum forced the two into a tiebreak. The 26-year-old rolled it deep, taking a 4-0 run before Rogers got on the board. Once she did, Muguruza reached 5-1, then achieved five match points.
One got away from her on a bouncer from the net that dropped fast for Muguruza to get to. The next would be Rogers's mistake as she ended a short rally into the net completing her tournament in 1 hour and 23 minutes.
Speaking about the second set, Muguruza said,
“I think she (Rogers) started to play better, and the match was more difficult. I was happy that at the end of the tiebreak, it was 50/50 and I could manage to win the match.”
