She will try hard to beat the world champion like Serena Williams, she has to come up with the some firepower if she wants to beat Serena Williams.
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Her opponent Muguruza handed Williams her heaviest ever loss at a slam at Roland Garros two years ago, beating the great American 6-2 6-2 in the second round.
From the outset on Friday, Stosur was outmatched, with Muguruza breaking the 32-year-old twice as she raced to a 4-0 first-set lead in a mere 18 minutes.
Williams fought as she always does and, on another day, saving four match points might have been crucial.
“So once you’re there it’s not easy to stay there, and I think matches like today and probably what she’s played all week with her aggressive style is why she’s there”.
It was the end to a dream three weeks for Bertens, who arrived in Nuremberg for a tournament the week before the French Open ranked 89th.
“I learned so much from that match”, he said. Asked if she is battling a strained abductor, Williams replied: “yeah, I have had some issues, but, you know, it is what it is”. The win would tie Williams with Steffi Graf and place her two Slams away from the all-time record. Only Graf and Margaret Court, with 24, have won more majors.
“She doesn’t wake up every morning thinking about it”.
Since that setback, Williams began working with her current coach, Patrick Mouratoglou; has won 47 of 50 matches at majors; and won four major titles to boost her total to 21. “That’s for sure”, he said, then added: “The pressure of leaving an indelible mark on history is incomparable”. “Today Garbine played unbelievable”, Williams told reporters.
Is the world No. 1 – victor of 21 Grand Slam singles title and arguably the best women’s tennis player to ever play the game – the underdog in the French Open final?
A poor volley cost Williams on her first set point but, after saving another Bertens chance, she took her second opportunity with a big serve and forehand into the open court.
Oh how Muguruza turned things around from there.
Muguruza breaks Serena easily early in the second set.
Under a full cover of clouds and with the temperature in the 50s (teens Celsius), Williams made 22 unforced errors in the first set alone.
The common trend throughout the match was that both players wanted to attack the other’s second serve.
It all worked out.
An additional dose of confidence arrived in the next game, despite beginning with two-double faults to create a love-30 hole.
Stosur rallied for a break back, but Muguruza retrieved it immediately for 3-2 on the back of unrelenting, deep and flat hitting.
Muguruza won all six points of 10 shots or more in that opening set and, indeed, there was no junkballing on this day. It seemed unfair to characterize almost anything as an “unforced error”, considering the way each made things so tough on the other.
That’s the book on Williams: She rises to the occasion, time after time. She showed less than ideal movement in her semifinal against Kiki Bertens and Muguruza will look to test her early and often. Williams knows Garbine Muguruza well.
It’s 1-all in the second set, Serena to serve.
Her shirt, arms, white sweatbands, cheeks and hair were all caked in red dirt but Muguruza did not care a jot as she became the first Spanish woman to hoist the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1998.
“I do think she’s got a very good chance to win tomorrow”.
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Information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press were used in this report.
