The tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza has not been able to get off to a good start in the WTA finals that are being played in the Mexican town of Guadalajara and has fallen to the Czech Karolina Pliskova in his debut 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Muguruza once again conceded a defeat against the world number four, who already dominates the balance of confrontations by 9-2, after a competitive match of two hours and half tennis at the altitude of the event venue and where he could not take advantage of his options in the third set.
The double ‘Grand Slam’ champion was able to recover from an initial ‘break’ by Pliskova to better dominate the first round where her rival was excessively erratic. Muguruza chained four games in a row, with two breaks, to get 4-2 and his solidity with service allowed him to get ahead in the game.
However, in the second set, Pliskova reacted and did so with her powerful serve and greatly reducing her unforced errors. Pliskova only lost two service points and her aggressiveness to the rest allowed her to dominate with great comfort to take the duel to the third and final set.
There, Muguruza seemed to stop the Czech with an initial ‘break’, but lost that advantage on her first serve. He enjoyed another opportunity to break, but did not take advantage of it and the game was balanced until its decisive measures.
With 5-4 in favor of Pliskova, she had two match points to the rest that she did not take advantage of and in the next game she also showed nerves of steel to lift a dangerous 15-40. Finally, the sleeve went to the ‘sudden death’ where Muguruza had 5/4 and two services to have closed the clash. He did not take advantage of them and, although he saved a match ball, he could not with the next and the victory went to the Czech.
“It was a very difficult match for both of us. I think there was actually a point of difference because we reached the tiebreaker and I saved a lot of match points, but it was a painful defeat,” Muguruza admitted after the match.
The tennis player has been “proud” of her match. “I fought as hard as I could and despite the fact that I suffered during this game, I also felt very energetic and motivated to play in Mexico,” stressed the former world number one.
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