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Third seed for the 2016 Australian Open Garbine Muguruza will be looking to consolidate her form and prove she can go all the way in the third round when she takes on Barbora Strycova who certainly won’t be a push over. Join The Roar for live scores from 11am (AEDT).
Strycova’s form leading up to the first grand slam of the year suggested that she wasn’t going to last very long. Playing two lead-in tournaments, first in Auckland and then at the Hobart International, she won only a single match. That came in the first round at Auckland, as she defeated Kiki Bertens in straight sets.
From there she would lose in straight sets to Julia Goerges, before being bundled out of the first round at Hobart by Johanna Larson, which was another straight sets loss. Things certainly weren’t looking positive and she was playing well below her potential.
However, since starting at the Australian Open, she has taken two straight-sets victories, albeit against lower-ranked opponents.
The first was against Caroline Garcia. Strycova only dropped six games across the two sets against Garcia before she then knocked out Vania King, which was also in straight sets despite the first going to a tie-breaker.
She held her cool well, and combining that with a strong serve looked to be playing good tennis.
Muguruza meanwhile had massive questions raised about her form and injury status coming into the tournament. Playing at the Brisbane International against Varvara Lepchenko in the first round she lost the first set in a tie-breaker before retiring after going down 1-0 in the second.
That was her only lead-up match to the Australian Open and would have worried her, however like Strycova she is yet to drop a set in this tournament. She has defeated Anett Kontaveit and Kirsten Flipkens, never looking troubled in either match.
The pair have matched up twice before, with both of these meetings coming last year. The first was in Stuttgart on the clay court, as Muguruza won in straight sets, before the second came in September at a tournament in Tokyo. Muguruza again took it out in straight sets, with the scoreline of 6-3, 6-4 indicating she was never truly under pressure.
Prediction
Strycova has never so much as won a set against Muguruza, however there is a first time for everything and this could be it. She has looked in good form since her Australian Open campaign started, and while she won’t win she should grab a set.
Muguruza in three sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this third round match at the 2016 Australian Open and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below if you’re following along with the action.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde