Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig looked in imperious form on Tuesday afternoon, completely dismantling world number 29 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-1, 6-0 to book her place in the quarter finals of the 2016 Apia International Sydney. Puig will now play the winner of the match between home favourite Samantha Stosur and Daniela Hantuchova, which is scheduled to be the second match on Ken Rosewall Arena later today.
Emphatic Start from Puig
Right from the off, Puig's intentions were clear. Against such a clean ballstriker in Schmiedlova, the Puerto Rican was keen on getting the first strike in as many rallies as possible, not letting her Slovak counterpart dictate from the back of the baseline. Beginning the match with this strategy, Puig had a very high success rate, breaking to open proceedings before consolidating the break with an emphatic hold at love. Unable to match the Puerto Rican shot-for-shot, Schmiedlova struggled to counter Puig's pace from the back of the court, which forced costly errors off of the racquet of the world number 29. A single break quickly turned into a double break for Puig, which was the perfect start she would have wanted against such a well-established player. Shortly after the 22-year-old consolidated the double break, the 21-year-old Slovak gave her fans something to cheer about as she got on the board, but still trailed 1-4. Unfortunately for Schmiedlova, that one game wasn't enough to shift the momentum whatsoever as Puig looked poised and confident, answering with a hold of her own before breaking for a third time to clinch the opening set 6-1 in exactly half an hour.
Puig Continues to Roll; Completes the Bagel and Books Place in Last Eight
Continuing right where she left off in the early stages of the second set, Puig secured yet another break after another routine hold of serve, thus opening up a sizeable set and 2-0 lead. From there, the 22-year-old qualifier continued to assert her authority on the world number 29, consolidating the break with some fierce hitting. Struggling with her own serve and struggling to win points on the receiving end, Schmiedlova's fortunes went from bad to worse as she was broken for a fifth time to go down a set and a double break. Now in cruise control of the match, Puig was forced to fight off some late resistance from Schmiedlova in order to maintain her lead, but did so with some big serving when it mattered most. After saving her first break point of the match, the world number 94 held to extend her lead to a set and 5-0, which ultimately broke the spirit and will of her Slovak counterpart. In the game that followed suit, Puig sealed the deal with yet another break of serve as another backhand unforced error flew off of the racquet of Schmiedlova, thus completing a comprehensive 6-1, 6-0 victory for the 22-year-old from San Juan - undoubtedly her most convincing victory in a long time.
"[I] felt very confident and poised throughout the whole match and [am] definitely ready to push on and keep up this good form," Puig told VAVEL USA shortly after her win.
A Look at the Final Match Statistics
Statistically speaking, Puig played a picture perfect match. Hitting two aces and no double faults, the Puerto Rican broke six times, maintained a solid 74% first serve percentage throughout the match, won 76% of her first serve points and an impressive 78% behind her second deliveries. On the other side of the spectrum, it's back to the drawing board for Schmiedlova. Despite maintaining a solid 70% first serve percentage, the Slovak number one only won 50% of points behind her first serve and a dismal 13% behind her second.