By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday September 3, 2021
Garbine Muguruza is into the second week at the US Open for just the second time - and it's about time.
Photo Source: GEtty
Garbiñe Muguruza had one thing working in her favor as she showed up in New York City for her 9th career appearance at the US Open: She was due.
Carrying a dismal 7-8 record at the Open, which pales in comparison to her combined 73-24 at the other three Slams, Muguruza figured maybe it was about time that her luck changed.
“The past years I was very – in Spanish we say you're a little bit cross, your brain is a little bit not working very well,” she told reporters after taking out three-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on Day 5. “I felt, yeah, I don't know, negativity was more than positivity in the previous years.
“This year, I don't know, I just prepared well and say, Hey, at some point it's going to change, this might be the year.”
Maybe it will be…
Muguruza is into the round of 16 of New York for the second time and the first time since 2017. If she can battle past Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic on Sunday, she’ll have progressed further than she ever has before at Flushing Meadows.
“I feel when you start the tournament with tough matches and you go through them and you get the wins, that gives you this little confidence,”she said after her two hour and 15-minute battle with Azarenka, which featured 34 winners and 24 unforced errors off the Spaniard’s racquet. “Every round it's getting more complicated so you need that extra confidence that every win gives you. Yeah, I think I am in a good situation to go to second week.”
Muguruza knows she’ll be in for a tough tilt against Krejcikova, one of the hottest forces in the sport at the moment. Crazy as it sounds, the 25-year-old Czech is making her main draw debut at the US Open. This year’s Roland Garros champion has won 41 matches on the season and risein to No.9 in the rankings, from 62 at the start of the season.
To say that her rise has been impressive would be a massive understatement.
“It's quite shocking, no, how much it happened for her in the last year,” Muguruza said. “Yes, we've played twice. I know her game. She has way more confidence now after winning a slam. I can feel it in her shots.”
Muguruza defeated Krejcikova in this year’s Dubai final, but the Czech topped the Spaniard in third-round action at Cincinnati this year, in three sets.
“We just played recently in Cincinnati and it was a very tough match. We are 1-1. Looking forward. It's a good round of 16. It's one of the hottest players right now, so good. That's the players I want to face.”
Krejcikova has won 28 of her last 31 matches, dating back to her title run at Strasbourg, which preceded her run at Roland Garros. She has reached at least the round of 16 in her last three majors, and the only player to defeat her at the majors in that span was Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty.
“There are some players that they start playing well, they get their confidence, they're fearless,” said Muguruza. “Especially at the beginning because you're like, hey, I'm here, I have nothing to lose. That gives you that extra, Let's go for it, yeah.”