Kenin saves match point, Muguruza hits exit door

The top seed Sofia Kenin had to work hard in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, saving a match point against Yulia Putintseva. On the other hand, Garbine Muguruza lost in straight sets.

Facing each other for the first time, Maria Sakkari took down the last year's Australian Open finalist Garbine Muguruza 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 52 minutes. Sakkari served at 52%, but that wasn't an obstacle for her, landing 11 aces and fending off 12 out of 13 break chances to take the pressure off her back and send it to the other side.

Garbine played well in the opening two matches, but it wasn't to be for her today, suffering three breaks and losing ground in the decisive moments of both sets to propel Maria through. The Greek grabbed the first break at 3-3 in the opener when the Spaniard netted a backhand and fended off two break chances in the next one to open a 5-3 gap with some brave hitting. Garbine had to dig deep in game nine, saving five set points on serve to extend the set and pulling the break back a few minutes later when Sakkari netted a forehand.

Starting all over, Maria clinched a break at 5-5 after forcing an error from Garbine and closed the set with a forehand down the line winner in game 12 after almost an hour! The Greek repelled five break points at 2-2 in set number two and moved 4-3 in front with a perfect drop shot winner that sent her closer to the finish line. Returning at 4-5, Muguruza squandered three break opportunities, allowing Sakkari to seal the deal with an ace down the T line.

Putintseva fended off break chances in games three and five of the opener and stole Kenin's serve at 3-2 to forge the advantage. The Kazakh served out for the set at 5-3 to move in front and gather momentum ahead of set number two. The second set lasted for around 70 minutes, and it went down to the wire, with Kenin saving a match point to survive and prolong the battle. Playing better than in the opener, Sofia raced into a 4-1 lead in set number two, serving for it at 5-3 when Putintseva pulled the break back.

The Kazakh grabbed another break at 5-5 and served for the victory, wasting a match point in that 12th game and allowing Kenin to reach a tie break. The American won it 7-5 and gained a massive boost ahead of the final set, where she earned three breaks of serve to open a 5-2 gap. Putintseva pulled one break back in game eight and had her chances at 4-5 before Sofia seized the third match point and prevailed.

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