MADRID, 3 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish-Venezuelan tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza said goodbye this Saturday to her career in the United States Open, fourth and last ‘Grand Slam’ of the season, after losing to the Czech Petra Kvitova in three sets (5-7, 6- 3, 7-6(10)), in a tough duel where he wasted his good options.
The one from Caracas could not carry out the third round clash between two champions of ‘big’, something that could have given her confidence for a second week in New York, where there will no longer be any representative of the ‘Armada’.
In fact, the ninth seed in Flushing Meadows had in her hand the ticket to the round of 16 when she dominated the third and final set 5-2, and had a serve with 5-3 to finish the contest. She was unable to take advantage of this advantage nor the two match points enjoyed by the rest before failing to survive the tie-break, despite her resistance after two hours and 40 minutes.
The match began with both players very firm on serve, but Kvitova’s greater aggressiveness allowed her to be the first to break (4-2). Muguruza was able to respond instantly and then broke again in the eleventh game to sentence the first set with his service (7-5).
The Czech had made too many unforced errors (16), but corrected that aspect in the second set, where she was the great dominator. She supported by a powerful service (7 ‘aces’), she hit the winning shots (16) and she also knew how to take advantage of the only break ball of the sleeve to achieve a break that she would not waste.
Muguruza knew how to recover and was very close to winning the match. Solid at service, this time she was the one who did not let the rest pass her option to get 5-3 and serve. He had barely lost points serving, but he was unable to close and gave life to Kvitova, who, suffering, reached a ‘tie-break’ that she dominated and that she did not sentence until the fourth match point.