By Chris Oddo | Wednesday February 24, 2016
Amidst the swirling chaos of the WTA Tour, Garbine Muguruza is emerging as a pillar of belief in Doha. On Wednesday the Spaniard calmly battled through a difficult encounter with Timea Babos, saving all five break points she faced to claim a 6-2, 7-5 win.
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Unlike last week in Dubai, when all of the top eight seeds—including Muguruza—failed to win a match, four of the top eight seeds are through to the last eight in Doha.
Muguruza’s victory sets up a quarterfinal clash with Andrea Petkovic.
“I think it was very tough,” said Muguruza. “The second set we were fighting like crazy.”
On a day that fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova and 13th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki fall to unseeded players, Muguruza put forth a determined effort to avoid the upset and reach her first quarterfinal of 2016. After a one-sided opener, Babos upped her level to match Muguruza in the second set. But Muguruza held firm, saving a pair of break points to stay on serve and eventually broke for 6-5.
But Babos wasn’t done stating her case. The Hungarian rallied to earn two break points, both snuffed out by courageous play from Muguruza. Soon Babos would have another break point but Muguruza stood firm again before going on to take the final two points to clinch her second victory in two lifetime tilts with Babos.
Muguruza finished with 31 winners against 22 unforced errors, and pitched in ten aces.
Moments after Muguruza finished up, Andrea Petkovic completed her 6-3, 6-4 victory over CoCo Vandeweghe to reach her third quarterfinal of the season and second in a row. The German broke five times on 12 opportunities vs. the American. She has defeated Muguruza in both of their two previous meetings.
In other action on Wednesday, Russian Elina Vesnina knocked off Wozniacki, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, while eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro dealt Timea Bacsinszky a 6-2, 6-2 thumping.