At the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in March, US Open girls’ champion Kayla Day gave the then-reigning French Open titlist Garbiñe Muguruza quite a scare, winning the first set and forcing her opponent to pull off a comeback victory. It was one of the great matches of that tournament.
On Wednesday, the women met for a second time, in Stanford for the round of 16. This iteration was not nearly as competitive. Muguruza — taller, more mature and now a Wimbledon winner — used her long levers to dominate the 17-year-old on the other side of the net. Day managed to win only two games, with the top seed taking the match 6-2, 6-0.
Throwback to March, when we all found out Kayla Day has a dog named Garbiñe. pic.twitter.com/uRnV2qwnVP
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 3, 2017
Day, serving as a lefty facing the setting sun, got broken in the first game of the match. She double-faulted down 0-40 on the final point. Afterward, Muguruza consolidated to 30. Then Day finally found her form and got on the board with a love hold for 1-2. But Muguruza broke a second time on a long Day forehand for a 4-1 lead. This prompted the American to get a visit from her coach.
Later, Day served facing a set point at 1-5, 30-40. She hit a forehand winner down the left sideline to stay in the set, and went on to win the next two points for 2-5. Still, she trailed two breaks.
Day had a chance to get first break back, but she lost the 30-40 opportunity by missing a two-handed backhand return long. Muguruza held on to win the set 6-2.
The start to the second stanza was not the one the California native wanted. The inconsistency in the depth of Day’s shots allowed Muguruza to take an early break. The Spaniard then held for 2-0, inching closer to the finish line. Muguruza, with relentless groundstrokes that pushed Day off the court and out of the rallies, broke again for 3-0, allowing Day to win only one point on her own serve.
By 0-4, Day was running out of options and tried an ill-considered backhand drop shot that went right into the net. Muguruza then broke with a backhand lob winner that went way over Day’s 5-foot-8 head.
Muguruza, up 5-0, successfully served the match out for a bagel. This secured her a spot in the quarterfinals versus another teenager, world No. 20 Ana Konjuh.
“I think I learned a lot from that match,” Murgurza said Wednesday of the close call in Indian Wells. “I knew it was going to be difficult, so I really trained hard and prepared … I needed to be concentrated today.”
