Muguruza moves past Ostapenko

Singapore : World No.2 and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza started her campaign to win her first year-ending championship with a decisive opening victory, dispatching No.7 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 6-4, at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global yesterday.

“She’s a very aggressive player,” Muguruza said of Ostapenko in her press conference. “Ostapenko had an incredible run this year, and she has the confidence, that’s what makes her even more dangerous. I knew going into the match that she could play unbelievable, so I kind of went in prepared.”

In a hard-hitting affair, solid returning by both players was the order of the day, but Muguruza held onto early leads in both sets to advance. Muguruza jumps to a 1-0 record in the White Group along with No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova, who dismissed No.5 seed Venus Williams earlier.

The Spaniard claimed the only round-robin match between two of this year’s Grand Slam champions. Both of their previous matches this season went three sets, but Muguruza defeated the reigning French Open titlist here in one hour and 25 minutes, avenging her loss to Ostapenko at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan earlier this month.

Ostapenko hit some breathtaking shots, and had 21 winners in the match. The 20-year-old had 25 unforced errors, though, and converted only three of her eight break points. The steadier Muguruza was more effective at those opportunities, breaking five times in seven chances.

“I’ve played [Ostapenko] a bunch of times already and she can serve very good sometimes, like everybody, and sometimes you can make some double faults,” Muguruza continued. “She’s aggressive, she takes some risks, and I tried to jump on every occasion I have.” 

After an exchange of breaks early in the set, Muguruza seemed to claim a decisive break for 3-1 after Ostapenko double faulted twice in a row to cede the game. The Latvian struggled to keep her second serve from being attacked, and won only one of nine second serve points in the opening set.