Muguruza to Australia was very motivated admitting what a great offseason she had. The Spaniard usually plays really well down under with the conditions working to her favourite. However, today on the court it did not look so good. From the start of the match, it was evident that Muguruza did not have her best stuff. The Spanish player was playing decent tennis early on but was outshined by Kasatkina.
The Russian was impressive on her o2n serve not allowing much while also attacking the Spaniard on her 2nd serve quite efficiently. That resulted in several break points and after getting and converting one, Kasatkina never looked back. She did not allow a single break point in the first set which she won 6-4.
The 2nd set was proper mayhem, especially early. We saw 5 breaks of serve in the first five games in the 2nd set. Kasatkina took an early break against Muguruza twice in the set but each time the Spaniard responded with a break of her own. Ultimately Muguruza lost her serve once more to take a 4-2 lead. After that, she was able to hold her serve without much fuss to close out the match with 6-4.