Garbiñe Muguruza
advances firmly in the Premier 5 in Rome.
The caraqueña is already in the quarterfinals after defeating
Johanna Konta
(6-4 and 6-1) in 82 minutes.
After a very close first set, Muguruza passed the roller in and continues to add good feelings on the way to Roland Garros.
In a box that has not given him any respite, his next will be
Viktoria Azarenka
, who passed after the injury of
Daria Kasatkina
.
It was impossible to guess what to expect from Konta.
After a mediocre career on clay, the British exploded last season: she was a finalist in Marrakech and the Foro Italico, but above all a semi-finalist at Roland Garros despite never having passed the first round.
Somewhere in the middle between those two extremes must be Konta's true level.
And indeed it has improved, but not enough to make this Muguruza uncomfortable, so sure in the serve and aggressive to the rest.
Garbiñe won 74% of the points she played with her serve and, as she did against
Coco Gauff
, she bit every time Konta had to play with seconds.
It was there when she stepped the most on the court, when she pressed the most to sow doubt in an already shaky serve: the British only won 35% of the points she played with her seconds.
At every critical moment
Konta managed to save three 'break' balls in the sixth game, but not the three she conceded again in the tenth.
In the fifth, Muguruza hit an open forehand varying the height (as the British tried so many times) to close the set.
It was there that the woman from Caracas took out her tusk, the big difference between the two sleeves.
Although the game was as even as in the first, Muguruza struck at every critical moment: not only did he take advantage of the only two breaking balls, but he saved three that he had against in the third game, already 2-0 in favor.
Azarenka's great gesture
Garbiñe will face Azarenka in the quarterfinals, the rival he was fired against due to injury last season in Rome.
And precisely thanks to another injury the Belarusian went round.
A moment that left one of the images of the year.
As soon as she saw that Kasatkina had sprained her right ankle, Azarenka ran to the bench for a bag of ice.
The Belarusian skipped the protocol for the covid to attend to her rival before the track doctor could even arrive.
When it became clear that she could not continue, Azarenka approached the bench to comfort her rival, hug her, shake her hand and kiss her head.
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