It was the wee hours in the morning for the Australians as Garbine Muguruza and Johanna Konta were led on to give it a go at their second-round match on Margaret Court Arena. There were people still there, sure, because these two hitters were high on the list of players to watch–and viewers got all of their just desserts to enjoy and be entertained.
First set
The last time they played each other was at the 2015 US Open, where Johanna Konta came out victorious in three sets. Stepping out on the court over three years later, they both seemed to be evenly matched. They were intense and really going for their shots but in the first set, Muguruza displayed nearly a flawless performance with a minimum of errors and emotionally was very controlled. Konta was like an eager beaver ready to bash and thrash the returns Muguruza gave out. The Brit’s serve and return-of-serve was brilliant and they were on their mark, a get set and blast the next ball over the net regime. Muguruza found her marks superbly, seeing the open court and executing well.
Konta had much to deal with, but was giving the Spaniard great rallies and strategies. The ability of Konta to have that slight hesitation before actually hitting the ball has a tendency to give her an advantage to hit the ball in any direction for a point. She’d gotten a few points off of that technique, whereas Muguruza’s mantra was the cross court method where she put away many points on an unsuspecting Konta. But despite the grunting and slamming of forehands by Muguruza she was only up a break at 3-2 as Konta tried to remain on top of her game–oftentimes making lucky slaps and pushes of the ball off her racket to gain a few extra points. The Brit’s acute angles were on point and Muguruza was back too far at times to ever make the return. It was at the right time for the Spaniard to close in on the set and she did with a few extra points to win 6-4.
Second set
This second set was vital for Konta to win, otherwise Muguruza would send her packing. She fought off the feelings of vulnerability and tried to come up with aggressive returns; sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but she wanted to win it and gave it a good try. The Spaniard had her fight on, breathing deeply after the end of a point and blaring her eyes from perhaps straining to focus on the ball. It was the Brit who gained her consistency as the second set went on, dealing now with a tiebreak and winning it.
Third set
The second set win gave Konta confidence as she continued to execute her shots nicely, but Muguruza’s game had taken a bit of a hit–as the commentator noted, “Muguruza isn’t able to penetrate the court quite as well now.” Konta gave it her all and the crowd clapped at the great shots no matter who it came from. They both were growing as tired as the fans, who could be visibly seen yawning and stretching during the match. The set was level at 5-all but in a blink of an eye the Spaniard poured on the adrenaline, raised her game status and raised her clenched fist as she hit the last shot in the corner with Konta netting the return. The on-court commentator said to the still-breathy Muguruza that “You were chasing everything down.” She gave a dimpled smile and said “I just tried to fight…I was motivated.”
Well her next opponent is Timea Bacsinszky and if she gets all her rest and is on point with her game, she’ll have a good shot at winning the next round too!
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