Tennis careers are made of hundreds of tournaments and thousands of matches, but sometimes the most pivotal periods can come down to a single set.
Whether the first set of Garbine Muguruza’s 7-6(12), 1-6, 6-2 win over the No.10 seed Angelique Kerber transpires to be career-defining is unclear – but certainly the Spaniard showed the kind of heart that might not only change the course of her tennis life, but will gain her many fans in the process.
Surrendering a break in her first service game against the 2012 Wimbledon semi-finalist, the No.20 seed seemed at Kerber’s mercy when she also trailed 0-40 on serve, two games later. But with her big-hitting style starting to register more accuracy, Muguruza fought hard not to give up her serve.
That mini-fightback would signal bigger ones to come, the 21-year-old claiming her own service break in the next game and holding her nerve as she saved five set points in the 16-minute 12th game.
With resilience as much a feature of Muguruza’s game as her aggressive, entertaining tennis, there were four more set points saved in a 17-minute tie-break, before the Spaniard seized the set on her second set point.
“I can't believe this first set. It was like 13-13? What's the score?” Muguruza laughed as she looked back on the 83-minute first set. “You know, it was a really like tight moment, and I was happy that I could win this first set because it was very important.”
The second set, by contrast, was largely forgettable for the Spaniard, Muguruza holding serve only once as Kerber raced to a 6-1 victory. Surrendering easily, however, was clearly not part of the game plan – Muguruza claimed another decisive break in the third game of the third set and, with another taking her to a 5-2 lead, was able to serve out the match with relative ease.
“Well, very intense, I think is the word,” Muguruza said when asked to describe a victory that took two hours and 37 minutes to complete. “(A) very long match. Good rallies. Amazing points. We were fighting like crazy, both players.”
Best known until now for her form on clay, the two-time French Open quarter-finalist is clearly starting to feel at home on grass too, Muguruza describing her win as her best performance on this surface.
“I think it's the best match. I didn't play so many in grass, but, at the beginning, I was like kind of, 'What is this, the grass?' Because in Spain, we never thought about grass,” she smiled.
While conceding that her six-foot frame can sometimes make it difficult to get low enough for grass-court points, Muguruza nevertheless sees considerable opportunity in her fourth round meeting with Caroline Wozniacki.
“It's going to be another tough match. She's playing good,” Muguruza said, explaining that she expects to face a similar style of player. “It's a little bit similar to Kerber sometimes. They have (a) really solid game on the baseline and really strong legs. So it's gonna be a long match, for sure.”
Not that a long match, as Muguruza showed, would trouble the Spaniard – especially given her growing affection for competing at the All England Club, having improved on reaching the second and first rounds in two previous appearances.
“It means something very special, obviously, because it's a Grand Slam, first of all. Then, because it's on grass. You know, it's weird for me, because it's not the best Grand Slam I played, because I always had bad results.
“So now I'm getting really happy to be here because I feel more comfortable, so it's getting more special every time.”