No. 22 will have to wait.
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Garbine Muguruza achieved the rare feat of overpowering Serena Williams to claim her maiden Grand Slam title with a 7-5 6-4 win over the world number one and defending champion in the French Open final on Saturday. After her loss to Williams 6-4, 6-4 in last year’s Wimbledon final, the Spaniard’s performance in which she beats Serena is long overdue.
Muguruza’s second break of the final allowed her to serve for the set and she duly managed that, staving off two break-back points along the way.
“Just to control the emotions I think is the key sometimes, especially in a Grand Slam where you’re very nervous and excited”.
Crunching every shot with such venom that she could not help throwing in a few double-faults as well, Muguruza took world No 1 Serena Williams on at her own power game and came out comfortably on top: a 7-5, 6-4 victor and a grand slam champion for the first time. “Serena was in front of the ball so I didn’t know if it was in or out”, said a beaming Muguruza, who was presented with the trophy by American great Billie Jean King. You work all your life to get here.
“She doesn’t wake up every morning thinking about it”.
The Frenchman, Williams’ coach since 2012, said: “There is a very high level of expectation and tension on this 22nd grand slam”. “The pressure of leaving an indelible mark on history is incomparable”.
Williams got No. 21 at Wimbledon in 2015, her fourth major in a row.
Since Angelique Kerber upset Williams at the Australian Open in January, the German has had a hard time maintaining her consistency, and almost two weeks ago she was bundled out of this event in the first round.
Williams though has been perplexingly out-of-sorts all week in the cold, damp conditions that have dogged Roland Garros and she sounded distinctly underwhelmed by the record prospect when asked about it following her semi-final win over Kiki Bertens.
Williams, 34, was playing for a record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title.
But, oh, how Muguruza turned things around from there.
“Garbine played unbelievable”, Williams said.
The rain that flooded Paris enough to shut down the Louvre museum, upset the tournament scheduling.
Firstly, despite losing in straight sets to the American at Wimbledon she was far from disgraced, putting up a strong showing behind her big serve. Serving for the set, she showed early nerves in the 12th game before converting her third opportunity with a sizzling backhand victor.
It all worked out.
For the better part of the last decade, fans at Roland Garros would’ve been accustomed to hearing Spain’s national anthem after seeing one of their players win the French Open title.
In the fourth game, which lasted nine minutes, Muguruza saved a break point with an unreturnable forehand, then a second with an ace.
An unreturnable crosscourt forehand gave Muguruza another break.
Muguruza won all six points of 10 shots or more in that opening set and, indeed, there was no junkballing on this day.
But, if the Spaniard was feeling the occasion, saving one with big hitting and the other with an ace would have settled her down no end.
She did not look as listless as she had 24 hours earlier, but when she surrendered her serve to Muguruza in the fifth game by firing three backhand errors and a double fault, the signs looked ominous.
Nadal sent Muguruza a congratulatory message on Twitter, and she revealed her countryman had been in her mind at the moment of victory.
Steffi Graf has 22 major singles championships.
“When you see people that are winning and there’s new faces, makes you think like, I can be one of those faces”, she said.
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Information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press were used in this report.
