An absolutely enthralling French Open women’s singles final has seen Garbine Muguruza claim her first grand slam victory in straight sets over the world No.1 Serena Williams.
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It felt like anything but a straight sets walk in the park for Muguruza as she had to fight all the way to the finish line against Williams, who due to the weather throughout the tournament was playing her fourth match in as many days.
It did seem that when Muguruza got her game right, there was absolutely nothing Williams could do about it, where as when Williams got on top it felt like it was never long before the match would be turning around.
Muguruza’s biggest problem was her double faults and they continually allowed Williams back into the match. In the end, she would make nine and that helped her to squander a couple of breaks that she worked so hard to get.
Muguruza would break first during what was nearly an hour long first set. Williams just struggled in key times, making silly errors, not moving her feet or getting over the ball. Muguruza was also completely insistent on hitting everything as far into the court as possible, trying to hit the baseline and Williams struggled to deal with that.
Of course, Williams when she got on top did exactly the same, hitting the ball deep into the court but it seemed in terms of defence she was never quite up to the standards of Muguruza.
When Williams broke back though, the signs were less than promising for Muguruza.
From the position of 5-5 in the first set, Williams would look to serve to at worst make it a tie-breaker, but failed as Muguruza broke again and then held serve to take the first set.
Heading into the second set the first three games were all breaks with neither player getting their first serve right early on. Nerves on one side, and tiredness on the other seemed to be the cause.
Williams would be broken first, then Muguruza and then Williams again with the set continuing on a Muguruza break for the entirety despite the fight from Williams.
The common trend throughout the match was that both players wanted to attack the other’s second serve. With Williams missing a lot of first serves, only making 34/69, it was hard for her to handle the incredible aggression of Muguruza.
Muguruza would go up 5-3 in the second set and Williams took 10 minutes to stay in the match, having to starve off four set points as the nerves continued to get to the Spaniard.
She would make no mistake serving for the match though, going up 40–0 with some dominating serving – probably her best of the match before Williams came to the net, trying to attack before a lob went over the head, landed on the baseline and won the fourth seed her first grand slam title.
It was a tough day for Williams, trying to equal the record of Steffi Graf, and her second grand slam final loss of the year.
In the end though, Williams is still on 21 grand slams and the day in Paris belongs to Garbine Muguruza!
Final score
Serena Williams 5 4
Garbine Muguruza 7 6
Stats
Aces: Williams (7), Muguruza (4)
Double Faults: Williams (4), Muguruza (9)
First serves in: Williams (34/69), Muguruza (46/79)
Points won on first serve: Williams (24/34), Muguruza (34/46)
Points won on second serve: Williams (15/35), Muguruza (15/33)
Break points won: Williams (2/8), Muguruza (4/10)
Winners: Williams (23), Muguruza (18)
Unforced Errors: Williams (22), Muguruza (25)
Total points won: Williams (69), Muguruza (79)
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Excellent performance and Super happy for Muguruza. A deserving winner indeed and if she plays consistently and manages to curb those double faults, she could be around for a Long time to come.
Johnno
Guest
A deserved winner, but no problems with Serena. I'm not sure mens or women's tennis in the open era has seen barely any veterans competing so well. 2 grand slam runner ups in her 35th year, awesome. Navratalova made the wimbledon final aged 37(in her 38th year in 1994) and was runner up to Conchita Martinez. Navratalova won a mixed doubles in her 39th year, and won a mixed doubles at the US open in her 50th year. Leander Paes and Hingis won the mix today, Paes has now won a career grand slam in mixed doubles and is turning 43 next week. But Serea's efforts in singles at her age to be at the level she's at is rare in singles in the open era. Graf retired at 30, Evert retired in her 35 year same age as Serena but wasn't pulling off the same levels she reached no grand slam finals etc, and 32nd year was her last Grand slam win. Fed hasn't won a grand slam since aged 31, Sampras retired at 31. So Serena, and Navratalova arguably the 2 best all round players ever(combining singles/doubles/Fed cup) also have massive motors huge longevity to keep playing high level tennis. Serena is probably on the decline you'd say now, but then again what if Serena had more rest would she of been able to of won today, who knows. But this schedule was really tough on her, tougher than Muguruza. Both had rain delays but Serena had worse of the rain delays and less rests. But Mugruruza is a deserved champion, good luck to her she has a lot of talent.