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By Chris Oddo | Sunday, January 25, 2015

 
Serena Williams, Australian Open 2015

Serena Williams fought off a fiery Garbine Muguruza to advance to her 8th career Australian Open quarterfinal, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Photo Source: Corleve

Serena Williams fought off a fusillade of purposeful groundstrokes, and battled through tense moment after tense moment, finally emerging victorious over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza after two hours of smash mouth tennis, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday in Melbourne.

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More than just a win, the victory avenges one of the worst losses that the 18-time Grand Slam champion has ever suffered, a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing at the hands of Muguruza in the second round of last year’s French Open. It also, though perhaps not as convincingly as she’d like, sends a message to the rest of the field that Williams is not prone to the type of shaky losses that plagued her at three of the four Grand Slams in 2014.

“She played so well,” said Williams of her confident, aggressive opponent. “She hits the ball really, really big.”

Muguruza was on the attack from the onset, and though Williams matched her through the first four games, the consistent depth and power of Muguruza’s ground strokes eventually wore Williams down.

The Spaniard took four games on the trot to claim her third consecutive set against Williams, saving all six break points she faced and sealing the 39-minute stanza when a Williams forehand return sailed long.

Williams would break early for a 2-0 lead in set two, but Muguruza would hit back quickly to take the next two games. Still, Williams slowly was beginning to gain a toehold in the rallies, varying her spin and using highly effective serving to set up her attack. After the match she jokingly credited a fan in the crowd for telling her to employ more spin as a tactic against the dialed-in Muguruza.

"Someone in the crowd was like 'C'mon Serena, use spin,'" she said. "There's coaches everywhere out here, so thank you guys, it really helped me."

Williams would break for a 5-3 lead and serve three consecutive aces to get to set point, closing it on another service winner.

With Williams grooving her serve as good as she has in years, the line in the sand was drawn early in the third set.

After Muguruza saved three break points to hold serve for 1-0, Williams was immediately put under pressure by the Spaniard in her next serving game. But Williams, aided by Muguruza's easy volley miss on a break point, weathered the storm, enduring six break points and an impromptu coughing fit to finally hold.

In the next game a rattled Muguruza put forth her poorest tennis of the day and was broken easily after sailing a wild backhand well wide.

Though the 21-year-old showed flashes of her early dominance, she could not manage the same level of consistency down the stretch.

She committed 16 errors against only 9 winners for the set, and did not manage a break point after that pivotal first game. Williams, sensing the kill, broke for a 5-2 lead then served out the match with ease to claim her 8th Australian Open quarterfinal appearance.

She will face last year’s runner-up, Dominika Cibulkova, next.

“I don’t even care,” Williams said on-court when asked about her impending quarterfinal. “I just got to the quarterfinals. I’m excited.”

Muguruza, who failed in her bid to reach a second career Grand Slam quarterfinal, was impressive in defeat. Mixing some of the most powerful ground strokes in women’s tennis with deft footwork and a steely mental focus, the world No. 24 promises to be a factor at majors more often than not in the years to come.

Williams, who pounded 17 aces and 41 winners on the day, improves her Australian Open record to 65-9 with the victory. The five-time Australian Open champion is currently spending her 101st consecutive week as the WTA’s No. 1 player, but she has not won the title in Melbourne since 2010 when she defeated Justine Henin in the final.

 

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