Number nine seed and Wimbledon finalist Garbiñe Muguruza returned to her winning ways on Tuesday afternoon, defeating Carina Witthoeft 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the 2015 U.S. Open. Muguruza will play Great Britain's Johanna Konta in the second round. Konta upset the Spanish number one on the grass of Eastbourne earlier this year, before the Wimbledon Championships.
Coming into This Match
Muguruza was coming into this match with only two matches on the American hard courts, which she both lost in straight sets. The Spaniard had yet to win a match since making the Wimbledon final, nearly two months ago. She was looking to find some of the form that catapulted her to her maiden grand slam final in the Big Apple.
Witthoeft was coming off of a decent summer on the North American hard courts. Despite failing to qualify for Cincinnati and New Haven, the German did qualify for the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she reached the round of 16. The WTA rising star has had a great year on the ITF professional circuit, winning three titles this year. However, Witthoeft is poised and ready to do some damage on the WTA tour.
Dominant First Set From Muguruza
From the opening stages of this first round encounter, it was clear that this would be a hard-hitting match, literally. Both women hit the ball with such power that no one could predict who would come out victorious in this match. The first four games of the match went with the server. Both players were serving very well and as a result, they were able to dictate most of the points in their respective service games. It was clear that the extra week of training for the Spaniard had really helped her find her timing and confidence again, as she was hitting the ball very cleanly off the ground. Witthoeft was trying to be the more consistent player in this match because judging by the two matches Muguruza has played in the last month, she knew that her Spanish counterpart could be streaky. However, this was a different Garbiñe Muguruza than the one who lost to qualifiers in her last two tournaments. At 2-all with Witthoeft serving, Muguruza was ready to take her opportunities. It took four tries but the Spanish number one broke the German's serve to go up a 3-2 lead. Both women continued to hit very cleanly off the ground but Muguruza's big serve proved to be the difference, as she held to consolidate the break. Now up 4-2, the Spaniard began to swing more freely and all of a sudden, she was the one who was dictating most of the points, even in Witthoeft's service games. A 4-2 lead quickly became 5-2 for Muguruza as she broke once more. She only needed one chance to serve out the opening set, winning it 6-2. Undoubtedly, this was one of the best sets of tennis Garbiñe has played all year.
Muguruza Gets Early Break, Witthoeft Strikes Back, But the Spaniard Too Aggressive in the End
The second set began just like the first with both women holding serve. However, in the third game of the match, Muguruza fought back from 40-15 down on Witthoeft's serve to earn herself a break point. The Spaniard didn't even need to hit a ball to break serve as the German double faulted at a very untimely time. Now up 2-1, Muguruza was looking to consolidate the early break. However, Witthoeft refused to throw in the towel. Carina decided that she needed to be more aggressive in order to have a chance to turn this match around and that's exactly what she did in the next game. Breaking on her first break point of the match, Witthoeft leveled the second set at two-games-all. Now with the momentum on her side, the world number 49 had a spring in her step as she capitalized on some errors from Muguruza to hold for 3-2. In the next game, the ninth seed held without much drama, to draw level at three games apiece. In the next game, Witthoeft was beginning to get more balls back into the court and Muguruza began to miss. Thanks to a bunch of unforced errors from the world number nine, the German found herself in the lead, once again. Now trailing 3-4, the pressure was heavily put on the shoulders of the Spaniard. It began to show as some loose errors from her racquet gave Witthoeft another break point opportunity. Amazingly, Muguruza's serve came to her rescue as she hit an ace to save the break point. From there, two unforced errors from the German number four handed the Spanish number one. Now leveled at four-games-all, Witthoeft's missed break point opportunity began to play some mind games in the 20-year-old's mind. It showed as the youngster hit three unforced errors (including a double fault) to go down 0-40. She managed to save the first break point but not the second as Muguruza broke again at a crucial time in the match. Up 5-4, the 2015 Wimbledon finalist had no trouble closing the match out. Apart from a double fault, Muguruza hit four winners to win four points and as a result, she had sealed the win. With an ace out wide, the Spaniard had defeated the young German, 6-2, 6-4 in 87 minutes.
Some Notable Statistics
There were quite a few things that really stuck out in the statistics of this match. Muguruza hit 11 aces to 5 double faults, won 86% of her first serve points, she hit 39 winners to 31 unforced errors and she was 11/11 when she came to the net! When you compare it with Witthoeft's statistics, the German won only 62% of her first serve points and hit 13 winners to 20 unforced errors. The 20-year-old was just unable to find her rhythm against the hard-hitting Spanish number one and when she had opportunities to close out rallies, she was unable to do so. Muguruza served and hit really well but the one thing that really sticks out in the statistics heads and shoulders above the rest, was the fact that Garbiñe was perfect at the net in this match. Now that she is no longer working with long time coach Alejo Mancisidor, she has been working with Conchita Martinez. Martinez was a player who played with a lot of variety and was very comfortable at the net, so chances are, it was the 1994 Wimbledon champion who encouraged Muguruza to come to the net more.