Favourite Garbine Muguruza has proved her strong form at the French Open and has reached the round of 16 in Paris for the fifth time in a row.
The Wimbledon winner left former Roland Garros finalist Samantha Stosur (Australia) little chance at 6-0, 6-2. After just 1:02 hours, third in the world rankings, Muguruza, who won the second Grand Slam tournament of the year in 2016, turned the first match point on Court Philippe Chatrier with her first ace.
Exactly there she had experienced one of her bitterest hours last year. As defending champion, the Spaniard played Kristina Mladenovic of France in the round of the last 16 – and was blown out mercilessly by the audience. Deeply hit, Muguruza left the Centre Court after her defeat and even broke off the press conference in tears a little later. Their French coach Sam Sumyk then harshly criticised the unfair behaviour of his countrymen (“That was pathetic and without class!”)
But only 41 days later Muguruza cried tears of happiness in the lawn mecca. In Wimbledon she got her second major coup. King Juan Carlos congratulated her afterwards, as did Hollywood star Antonio Banderas and football hero Iker Casillas.
In the round of 16 in Paris on Monday, Muguruza will face Lesia Tsurenko from Ukraine, who defeated Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 6-2, 6-4. Tsurenko had so far only reached the round of the last 16 at a Grand Slam at the US Open 2016. That’s as far as the 29-year-old had ever gone on the big stage.
In the new edition of the 2016 French Open semi-final, 24-year-old Muguruza clearly dominated against former US Open winner Stosur (34). In the first set the Australian scored only ten points. Again and again the favourite scored with her strong backhand.
Only the third game in the second set was won by Stosur, only the number 90 in the WTA ranking. She equalised 2-2 a little later, but Muguruza did not let anything burn afterwards.