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By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, October 26, 2015

 
Garbine Muguruza

Garbine Muguruza smacked 10 aces and dropped serve just once dispatching Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in her WTA Finals opener.

Photo credit: Getty Images

It was moving day in Singapore for Garbine Muguruza.

The Wimbledon finalist woke up today rising to a career-high rank of No. 3. Then Muguruza played like a woman on the ascent, cracking 10 aces and dropping serve just once to dispatch Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in her opening round-robin match of the WTA Finals.

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This White Group match was a rematch of the Roland Garros quarterfinals.

The left-handed Czech used her slice serve and curling crosscourt forehand to sweep Muguruza in straight sets on the red clay of Paris. The powerful Spaniard pressured Safarova from the start of the match and countered those forehand strikes that hurt her in Paris with some crunching two-handed backhands to take charge of critical points.

"It was a very tough match, the first one, because you are very nervous," Muguruza said afterward. "In Roland Garros she played an amazing match. I think today I played a very good match also. I just wanted so much to win. I was fighting, really concentrating."

This clash of WTA Finals singles debutants came a day after Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro in doubles, giving the youngest woman in the field a good look at Safarova's slice serve.

Muguruza converted just three of 15 break points in the match, but kept Safarova under persistent pressure on serve. She won 12 of 20 points played on Safarova's second serve in the first set.

The youngest singles player in the field converted her fourth break point for a 2-1 lead when Safarova put a forehand into net. The Czech used the slider serve to save a pair of break points in the fifth game. Muguruza stamped a love hold extending her lead to 4-2.

Safarova stubbornly fought off six of the first seven break points she faced. Testing Muguruza for the first time on serve, Safarova reached 30-all in the eighth game. Unfazed, the Spaniard sliced an ace wide and followed with a serve winner for 5-3.

Safarova, who missed the entire Asian swing with a bacterial infection, saved a set point in the ninth game. But she sailed a forehand long as Muguruza broke for the second time, collecting the opening set in 48 minutes. Muguruza permitted just four points on serve in the opening set.

The Wimbledon finalist lost the range on her first serve to open the second set as Safarova turned the tables breaking for the first time. It was a short-lived lead.

On her 11th break point, Muguruza blasted a return off the baseline. The shot was called out, Muguruza successfully challenged and chair umpire Kader Nouni ruled the incorrect out call did not hinder Safarova's response. Muguruza broke back for 3-3.

Muguruza pulled off one of her first drop shots of the match to earn a fourth break point, but Safarova saved it, eventually working through a taxing hold for 4-4. A couple of double faults put Muguruza in a double-break point bind. She saved the first with a dazzling running forehand winner down the line that nearly went around the net post and the second on a Safarova error, eventually scraping out a hold for 5-4.

Elevating her level of play in the tie break, Muguruza opened with an ace and bolted a backhand winner down the line for a 3-0 advantage. The six-foot Spaniard used the wide serve effectively for 5-3.

Too often, Safarova played predictably off her forehand, hooking that shot into one of Muguruza's biggest weapons, the two-handed backhand. That pattern proved costly when Safarova stubbornly hit a series of crosscourt forehands only to be pushed back by the pace of Muguruza's two-hander. She won a 20-shot rally for match point. When Safarova netted a forehand, Muguruza wrapped up an impressive one hour, 56-minute win.

 

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