By Chris Oddo | Wednesday September 30, 2015
Garbine Muguruza bounced back from a poor opener to dominate Ana Ivanovic in three sets in Wuhan.
Photo Source: Kevin Lee/Getty
As far as three-set matches go, Garbine Muguruza’s takedown of Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open was about as one-sided as they come.
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The 8th-ranked Spaniard bounced back from dropping the opening set and rumbled past the Serb, taking 12 of the final 13 games to book her spot in the quarterfinals.
Muguruza’s 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 win also strengthens her bid to reach this year’s WTA Finals at Singapore. Reaching the quarterfinals means she’ll add at least 190 points, and if she wins the title she could go as high as fourth on the table (she's currently 11th).
Facing Ivanovic for the first time, and playing under the brand new roof in Wuhan for the first time as well, Muguruza went on the attack from the onset. She would rally from a break down to level at 3-all in set one, but tossed in a very loose game when serving at 4-5 to hand the set to Ivanovic.
It was a spirited opener that featured attacking, go-for-broke tennis from both participants.
Muguruza, who improved to 31-17 with the win, wasted little time in changing the dynamic of the match in set two. She smashed a trademark wicked return at Ivanovic’s feet that proved too hot to handle for the early break and a 1-0 lead, then broke again for 3-0.
Ivanovic had the chance to get one of the breaks back with Muguruza serving at 4-1 but the Spaniard saved it by tattooing a massive swing volley into the open court and won the next two points to hold for 5-1.
In the third set, Ivanovic never had a chance. She won just 5 of 17 points on serve and surrendered three breaks on six opportunities. Meanwhile, Muguruza dropped just four points on serve and did not face a break point.
It all added up to a decisive—and breathtaking—victory for Muguruza. She’ll move on to face either Kristina Mladenovic or Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the quarterfinals. Muguruza improves her record against Top-10 opposition to 6-4 on the season, while improving to 16-10 on hard courts.
Ivanovic falls to 21-17 on the season, and 1-7 vs. the Top-20.