Garbine Muguruza eased past Jessika Ponchet 6-4 6-3 to advance to the second round in Melbourne despite fitness worries before the match.
At the start of the match breaks were shared as Muguruza was trying to figure out her unknown French opponent. Ponchet, who was ranked 256 in the world, made life difficult for the former world number one implementing different tactics to try and distract the Spaniard.
After wasting several break point opportunities, Muguruza eventually found her opening as she sealed a crucial second break of the match in the seventh game. Ponchet’s net skills kept her in the match however on her third set point Muguruza sealed the opening set to her relief, 6-4.
The second set proved just as awkward as Muguruza became frustrated about not making basic shots as her French opponent gained belief with every game won. The fifth game was where the set was decided as a 17 point game occurred in a battle between the two players. The world number three had a slight scare as she screamed in pain temporarily due to her left knee.
Despite the injury scare Muguruza eventually broke Ponchet for a 3-2 lead and built confidence from that game onwards. The Spaniard continued to look impressive as she used her impressive net skills to break for a second time in the set and seal victory in just under 90 minutes.
It wasn’t a classic performance by the Spaniard however the main positive is she won the match and can strengthen her game in the rest of her matches in the first week. Her opponent, Ponchet, played well however she needed to execute her game to perfection if she wanted any chance of winning the match and she didn’t succeed.
She will now play Su-Wei Hsieh who managed to defeat Lin Zhu of China 0-6 6-0 8-6 in under two hours. The world number 88 won 65% of her 1st serve points to set up a meeting with Muguruza.
