Muguruza Moves On In Miami

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza needed less than an hour to defeat American wildcard Nicole Gibbs, 6-1, 6-0, to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open.

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The 2015 Wimbledon finalist, Muguruza has struggled to find consistency thus far this season – narrowly edging past Dominika Cibulkova on Friday – but the young Spaniard had none of those problems on Sunday night, hitting four aces and 20 winners – to only eight from the fast-rising Stanford All-American – and dropping just one game in the 57 minute match.

“I’m so happy about my match today; I felt great on court, so that’s amazing,” she told Andrew Krasny during her on-court interview.

“I tried to be very aggressive, but be very concentrated and just play my game.”

Muguruza first attracted notice when, as a wildcard, she burst onto the scene in 2012 when she upset then-World No.9 Vera Zvonareva, following up the upset with another big win over Flavia Pennetta en route to the fourth round. The Spaniard has since become a mainstay in the Top 10, pushing World No.1 Serena Williams through a high-octane Wimbledon final last summer and winning all three of her round robin matches at her BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global debut last fall.

“I have great memories. The Miami Open was my breakthrough and this is my second home with this amazing crowd that supports me. I don’t know what to say, it all feels great!”

Up next for Muguruza is former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka, whose hot streak continued against Magda Linette earlier in the day.

Also into the fourth round is No.26 seed Johanna Konta. The Brit became the highest ranked from her country since 1987 (Jo Durie) by cracking the Top 25 last week, and showed off all the grit and determination that has taken her so far, so fast with a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) win over qualifier Elena Vesnina.

“I am very happy to be able to come back tomorrow to compete again,” Konta said after winning a match in which she hit a stunning 12 aces – six in the second set alone. “I knew going into the match that she was playing at a very good level so I knew there’d be very little in it, whichever way the match at the end. I’m very happy to be sitting here with a chance to play tomorrow.”

Vesnina was coming off of a big win over former No.1 Venus Williams, and though she fought hard throughout, Konta continued to play her best tennis when it matters most over the last 10 months.

“I really tried to play the same as I had throughout the whole match. There’s obviously ebbs and flows in a match – I was playing better in parts and not so good in parts – but I really just tried to stay offensive and have things end on my terms as much as possible, but also being humble enough to know that she was playing at a good level so not to get too disheartened or down on myself if she plays well too.”

Standing between Konta and a possible quarterfinal encounter with either Muguruza or Azarenka is No.32 seed Monica Niculescu, who eased past CoCo Vandeweghe, 6-4, 6-1.

“We’ve only played once before and that was last year in Nottingham. It was a very tough match there, and I know she’s one of the trickiest players on tour and one of the best competitors as well.

“At the end I think it’ll be a match where there’ll be very little in it and I’m just going to my best to fight every single point and hopefully be able to leave the court knowing that I did my best.”

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