Garbine Muguruza, the new French Open champion, says she is “so, so excited” to have beaten Serena Williams in what she called “the ideal final”. She admitted to having a muscle injury. Asked how she’ll respond to the pressure of her pursuit, Williams said there’s only one way: Keep working.
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In a rematch of the 2015 Wimbledon final, Muguruza disarmed the defending champion with the depth and pace of her baseline blasts and dethroned her with stunning finesse.
“Serena’s a very powerful player so I had to be ready and concentrate on all the points”, Muguruza said.
The 34-year-old did not play badly, albeit below her absolute best, and she refused to blame any physical issues for the loss, saying: ” It was okay.
Garbine Muguruza has served out the first set in her French Open final against Serena Williams.
Thumping her serve with more vigor than she did at the start of her quarterfinal and semifinal wins, Williams won eight of the first nine points on serve, including a second serve ace wide.
Williams saved four match points to hold but on Muguruza’s fifth opportunity to seal the contest in the following game she landed a lob on the base line and sank to her knees in apparent disbelief at winning the title. Her verdict? Muguruza was the better player on important points. I just tried to be calm even though inside, I was like, “Oh, there’s no way”.
After saving two break points herself to get to 2-all, Muguruza nosed ahead first, when Williams combined three errant backhands with a double-fault to hand over the lead.
Although her hard-hitting game seems more suited to faster surfaces, Muguruza won 14 consecutive sets en route to the final after losing her opening set of the tournament. “When you are able to finish like the way she did in the last game, it’s a second reason to say she deserved it”. The top-ranked American has now lost two straight Slam finals after falling to Angelique Kerber in the Australian Open final.
The 22-year-old fourth seed, who lost to Williams in last year’s Wimbledon final, became the first Spaniard to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1998.
Williams applauded. Maybe stunned by that shot, maybe stunned that she was now a Grand Slam champion, Muguruza turned toward her coach and other supporters in the stands with a blank expression. Instead, she gave full credit to Muguruza for seizing the moment, as noted by Christopher Clarey of the New York Times. For Spain and for me this is just fantastic. But Muguruza has won her past two matches against Williams on the clay of Roland Garros, including in the second round in 2014. “I mean, that just goes to show you you really have to play the big points well, and I think she played the big points really well”. This is the first time in Williams’ career she has lost back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
Shaking that off, Muguruza slashed another dagger down the line breaking again for 2-1.
But it could not have been more different this time as she blasted her way to the title. She won 20 of 35 points played on Williams’ second serve and broke serve four times.
This is Muguruza’s first Grand Slam title.
A crosscourt forehand victor and a backhand mistake from Garbine Muguruza have given Serena Williams her first break in the French Open final.
The ability to improvise off bad bounces and body shots served Williams well as she danced around the ball and slashed an inside-out forehand for break point.
Still, Williams broke to 4-all, and they were at 5-all when Muguruza regained control.
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This is the second time that Muguruza and Williams are playing each other at Roland Garros. Two years ago, Williams was upset 6-2, 6-2 in the second round by her Spanish rival.
