Barbora Strycova Pulls Off Big Win Over Muguruza in Birmingham Showdown

The big news of the day at the Nature Valley Classic came in the way of Barbora Strycova taking down the No.1 seed and defending Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Muguruza 6-2 6-4.

This is a match-up that has troubled the Spaniard quite a lot in recent memory. Many fans will cast their mind back to the big loss at the Australian Open in 2016, where Muguruza managed just five games and in their most recent completed match, Strycova routed Spaniard with the loss of just one game, so mentally Strycova had something to work with going into this Birmingham encounter.

Muguruza started the match with an opening hold of some confidence, but the set took a downward turn for her very quickly as she tried to tackle the gusts of wind and tried to deal with the difference in spins and pace coming from the Strycova racquet. Muguruza got broken in the fifth game of the first set through mistiming a few forehand shots in the wind and her level did not really recover in the first set.

The Czech star, who has made the final at this event on two occasions, losing to Ana Ivanovic in 2014, and losing to Madison Keys in 2016, rarely put a foot wrong as she found the timing on serve and threw a bit of everything into her ground-game to upset the groove that Muguruza tries to find when she steps onto the court.

The two-time Grand Slam champion took a break lead on two occasions in the second set, but on the second time she broke serve for 4-2, she then went on to lose the next four games. Strycova did face a bit of resistance when serving for the match at 5-4, where she had a 40-0 lead, but eventually took the match on her fourth match point to topple the No.1 seed for the 3rd time in a row and a second time on this surface.

When looking at the draw beforehand it felt like a match that could have been a tricky one for the Spaniard. Strycova had five career wins over Top 5 players coming into this match (and two of them came against Muguruza), and has only ever won one match vs a World No. 1 player–which came in Beijing last year also versus Muguruza, so Strycova had her number in some ways. In her post-match press conference, I asked Strycova what makes this match-up an enjoyable one for her and how does she manage to raise her game each time in this battle.

“Well, I’m not sure what I like, but every time I play her, I have to play my best tennis and it happen. The last two matches were in Eastbourne last year and this year here. I played well and I felt on the court very good, especially today. I was serving very well and it was working a lot. It helped save me — not save me, but help me.”

The reigning Linz champion has a game that can work its magic on all surfaces, because of the nature of her game, the unpredictability of her groundstrokes, the capability to come up with different kinds of shots and the way she can implement them to perfection when in the right mood. It is fair to say that the grass court definitely lends itself to her game the most of all surfaces as it reacts well to her slice, allows her to use the variety she has in her game, but what is not mentioned enough is how it gives her serve that little bit more bite that the other surfaces don’t. It enables her to be more of a threat and gain cheaper points that she can’t maybe do on a clay court and in doing so it gives Strycova confidence that she can turn things around during difficult phases in her career. The Czech talked about her game in length and discussed why top Czech players like Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova among many are notable grass court players in their own right.

“I get this question very often and I can’t answer. We just like it. I like to play chip-and-charge. It’s just a little fun. It’s a different game, not always just playing quick and just go for it. I just like to play slice and serve- and-volley. I like it. But I don’t know why we play good on grass.”

“I have more options. I have much more options. Of course the balls are very low, so I can chip it or slice it easily than on clay or on hard court. But I have more options to go and play serve-and-volley. I have more options to play slice. I don’t think that the girls like it when I mix the game a lot. This is my game. I have to mix it. I have not so much power like them. I have to play clever and tricky. If I play like this, I have chances to win matches.”

Strycova experienced a bit of a dip in form before the French Open, where she lost eight matches in a row, but it now looks like she can look ahead to possibly a very fruitful grass-court swing where her confidence begins to blossom. Her track record at this tournament in Birmingham suggests that she is a player that should not be overlooked when it comes to challenging for the title.

Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images

Post Views: 23