By Chris Oddo | Monday June 27, 2016

Garbiñe Muguruza survived an extremely tough first-rounder with an opponent who was out to get her from first ball. Italy’s Camila Giorgi threw a whole lot of hot sauce in her direction, but Muguruza made sure that she had a sturdy reply to pretty much everything that came her way.

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In the end it came down to steadiness and steeliness and Muguruza had those qualities in spades down the stretch of her 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over the Italian. Afterwards, she was satisfied to have come through such a tussle.

“I'm very happy about this match,” Muguruza said after the match. “Sometimes you don't win like very beautiful, but you just got to be there, you know, and fight for the match. You got to be there fighting and waiting for your chance, especially against a player that bangs the ball. Is a very tough opponent to begin the tournament.”

It could have been even tougher, and Muguruza knows that.

“I think Wimbledon is a very tricky tournament, because the grass sometimes, it can give you surprise,” she said. “I think all the matches are quite more equal. I think I had a very tough match today. But, well, I'm going to take the positive side. I think it's good to start the tournament, it's good to get into the grass court.”

Muguruza had to battle tooth and nail with Giorgi all day, and she also had to deal with the frustration that came with missing on a plethora of break opportunities. The trend began in the first set when she converted three of nine to grab the opener without too much fuss. But in the middle set Giorgi saved all three break points she faced then broke in the 12th game to level the match.

Muguruza never wavered, however. The 21-year-old displayed a calm demeanor and finally was able to capitalize on her sixth break point of the third game to take a 2-1 lead.

Giorgi crawled back from 40-0 down to deuce in the next game but could not break back. She then stayed in touch with three consecutive holds from that point, but Muguruza warmed to the task of protecting her lead and took 12 of her final points on serve to clinch the victory in two hours and 33 minutes.

The strokes never cease to be impressive from Muguruza’s side of the court, but today it was her ability to remain focused against a hostile opponent in a pressure cooker on Centre Court that really made a statement. This was an impressive win against an upset-minded opponent that played well enough to win.

Muguruza calmly refused to lose, and lives another day at Wimbledon