Defending champion Garbine Muguruza battled past tricky opposition in 27th seed Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-2 to march on into the fourth round at the French Open.
Having fought past two of the toughest unseeded players in the draw in the first two rounds, defending champion Garbine Muguruza’s French Open title defense rolled on as the Spaniard defeated Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, a quarterfinalist last year, 7-5, 6-2. The fourth seed cracked 26 winners to an equal amount of unforced errors, utilizing her hard-hitting power game to push Putintseva around the court to move into the fourth round at Roland Garros in an hour and 40 minutes.
Muguruza began the match emphatically, breaking in the opening game of the match to go up 1-0 courtesy of a drop volley winner. The lead was short-lived after a duo of double faults in the following game combined with some smart variety from Putintseva gave the break right back to last year’s quarterfinalist to level at 1-all. Putintseva consolidated the break with a comfortable hold before more wild errors from the Spaniard gave her 27th-seeded opponent the advantage at 3-1.
The trend of breaking serve was kept up by Muguruza, as the fourth seed broke straight back to bring the match back on serve at 3-2 before the defending champion held serve for the first time in the match to even things up at 3-all. With the Spaniard seemingly finding her range on her powerful groundstrokes, Muguruza claimed her third game on the trot to go up a break 4-3 before backing that lead up with an easy hold of serve for 5-3.
Serving to stay in the set, Putintseva was unrattled, taking care of her serve comfortably to force the fourth seed to serve out the opening set on Court Philippe Chatrier. Despite being two points from dropping the opening set, Putintseva battled to stay alive in a tightly-contested first set, drawing enough errors from Muguruza to level the match at five games apiece. Continuing the theme of an up and down opening set, the Spaniard seized the break back to give herself another opportunity to serve for the first set. With the break advantage under her belt once again, Muguruza made no mistake this time, serving out a rollercoaster opening set 7-5 on her second time of asking to move a set from the second week in Paris.
Much like the first set, Muguruza began strongly going up a break immediately before consolidating that advantage to go up 2-0. The Spaniard then took control of the set, going up a double break for 3-0 courtesy of some more big hitting and a few more errors seeping into Putintseva’s game. Muguruza’s wobbles on her serve continued none the less, as her 27th-seeded opponent snatched one of the two breaks back for 3-1. Putintseva was able to limit the defending champion’s lead to a solitary break as the Kazakh held for only the second time this match for 3-2. The fourth seed stopped Putintseva’s run of games, taking care of her serve for 4-2, inching ever closer to a spot in the Roland Garros round of 16.
Muguruza continued breaking last year’s quarterfinalist seemingly at will. claiming the crucial double break to go up 5-2 and give herself the opportunity to serve for the match. Growing in confidence on serve as the match went on, Muguruza was dominant serving out the match, cracking two aces to seal her spot in the fourth round 7-5, 6-2.
Muguruza will next play the winner of the battle later today on Court Suzanne Lenglen between American Shelby Rogers and French hopeful Kristina Mladenovic, the 13th seed and a contender for the title, in the fourth round.
