No. 1 seed, Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain has eliminated German Mona Barthel to advance to the quarterfinals of the Toyota Thailand Open. She took the first set comfortably, but then was trailing 4-0 in the second. She was able to comeback to win the match in straight set 6-2 7-5.
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Photo: Spain’s Garbine Muguruza plays a forehand (Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images
Four consecutive unforced errors by Barthel in the first game allowed Muguruza to break to love, but Barthel immediately broke back in the next game to level at 1-1. In the fifth game, a double fault by the German brought up two break points for Muguruza. The first was saved when Muguruza returned a serve into the net, but she was able to break on the next point when Barthel sent a backhand over the baseline, giving the Spaniard a 3-2 lead.
In the eighth game, Barthel made three double faults, where her second one brought up a break point, then the third gave Muguruza the break of serve and the first set.
Barthel came out for the second set with a great lift in form, and she broke to love in the opening game, hitting two consecutive forehand winners to bring up and then convert the break point. She consolidated, and then a backhand winner in the third game brought up two break points for her. She converted the first one with a forehand winner, and it seemed like there wasn’t much the Spaniard could do to win the second set.
In the fourth game, Barthel sent a backhand wide, which brought up a break point for Muguruza, but Barthel saved it with another forehand winner that she passed by Muguruza who was trying to come in to the net and play aggressively. Muguruza finally won a game, but was behind 4-1. She advised her coach during the change of ends, where she was told to play with more accuracy rather than power, as she was over playing a lot of her shots.
Muguruza had three break points in the next game, brought up by a backhand that went into the net off the German’s racquet. A double fault allowed Muguruza to break to love. She then held her next service game, and another two consecutive double faults by Barthel gave Muguruza the second break to level the score at 4-4.
Muguruza held in the ninth game to take the lead in the second set at 4-5, and Barthel had to serve to stay in the match. She did so with success, holding to love. Muguruza held again, putting pressure back on the German to once again serve to stay alive in this second round clash. This time, she didn’t manage to hold her serve, as she send a backhand wide, bringing up three match points for Muguruza. The Spaniard failed to convert the first one, as she sent a cross court shot into the net, but on the next point, Barthel hit a backhand wide, giving Muguruza the set and match.
In the quarter-final, Muguruza will play 18-year-old, Dayana Yastremska, who defeated Chinese Peng Shuai 6-1 6-4.
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