Garbine Muguruza vowed to learn from her heartbreaking Wimbledon final defeat to Serena Williams and spark a next generation challenge to the veteran American.
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Making her debut in a Grand Slam final, Muguruza set the pace in the first set and launched a thrilling comeback from 5-1 down in the second.
After moving past sister Venus to reach six Wimbledon titles, few will bet against her retaining the US Open and completing that calendar slam.
The men’s final between world No. 1 Novak Djockovic of Serbia and seven-time champion Roger Federer of Switzerland will be held on Sunday, the last day’s competition. Serena then had a disaster start to her service game, serving two double faults in a row. And at 33, she is the oldest female player ever to hold the championship.
Williams is within touching distance of becoming the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four major titles in the same year following her sixth Wimbledon triumph.
“I feel I’m more fit and can do more than 10-12 years ago”, said Williams, who won a “Serena Slam” in 2002-03. “I honestly wouldn’t have thought past year after winning the US Open that I would win the Serena Slam at all”. “It’s easy to go out and say I want to win, then try to win”. I feel physically better than I did when I last won the “Serena Slam” in 2003. But her time will surely come after some attention-grabbing results in the last fortnight.
In fact, the secret to her current stranglehold on the women’s game, might just be that she has been there, done it and bought the T-shirt.
Her collection includes a half-dozen trophies each from Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Australian Open, and three from the French Open. She was true to her word.
Williams is near the top of her game, at the top of her sport, and dominating in a way that is unprecedented for someone this late in their career.
On Thursday, after Williams easily eliminated 2004 champion Maria Sharapova in the semifinals 6-2, 6-4, the 33-year-old American was asked what she remembers about – and might have learned from – that setback against Cornet at the All England Club. The fightback had begun.
For the 20th-ranked Muguruza, the problem was Williams.
Yes, say the name over and over again because the Queen is reigning and she has just made history yet again. Muguruza’s powerful serve and ground strokes troubled Williams in the early stages. As Serena said on court, there is a great chance that Muguruza will be holding the Venus Rosewater Dish very soon, considering the impressive level she showed on court in these two weeks of Wimbledon.
Some inspired tennis from Muguruza brought three break-back points and though Williams saved them and had championship point, the Spaniard came back to secure the break. Her next golden opportunity will be next August at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Serena broke back, ramping up the pressure and eventually claimed the first set, 6-4.
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But the success was short-lievd as Williams returned the favour in the ensuing game to earn her 21st grand slam title after 83 minutes from her opponent’s forehand wide. “I feel better now”. “That for me stands out the most”.
