It was not pretty but in the end, Garbine Muguruza is through to the next round of the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic after beating Mai Hontama 6-3 6-2.
The Spanish player caught a luckly break yesterday when Victoria Azarenka withdrew from the match before start leaving the Spanish player more time to rest and prepare for this match. That had it's downsides as well as she looked shaky at times especially in the first set. Luckily for her, Hontama also did not play in the previous round as Kontaveit withdrew from that match.
With both rusty and shaky it was Muguruza who bulldozed her way to an early 4-0 lead. Hontama was able to pull one break back to make it 4-3 but in the end, Muguruza was able to close out the first set with 6-3. The 2nd set was a very interesting one. Garbine loser her serve in the first game but broke back immediately.
Then she lost it again but she also broke back immediately. After that, she went on a 3-0 run to take a 5-2 lead as Hontama was simply not sharp enough to keep up with Muguruza who was now in rhythm and rarely gave away points. Muguruza closed it out with 6-2 breaking her opponent once more.
A valiant effort from the qualifier but her inexperience showed in the 2nd set as she failed to win a single service game of hers. A lot more to improve for this level of tennis.
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