New York (AFP)
Spain's Garbine Muguruza, 16th in the world, qualified for the second round of the US Open on Tuesday under the closed roof of Louis-Armstrong court at the expense of Japanese Nao Hibino (78th) 6-4, 6-4.
Muguruza made a point of dedicating this victory to his compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro who revealed the same day to suffer from lymphoma and to start a 6-month course of chemotherapy.
"Of course I dedicate this victory to her, because I want her to feel that we are behind her and when I can, I will go and see her," Muguruza said.
The rain disrupted the start of the day at Flushing Meadows, but the finalist of the last Australian Open was lucky enough to be scheduled on one of two courts with a retractable roof.
In the next round, Muguruza, whose best result at the US Open was a round of 16 in 2017, will face the Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, ex-31st in the world but who has not played on the WTA circuit since her defeat in the second round of Wimbledon in 2017.
“I don't think I've ever played it. So, yeah, it's going to be quite interesting to face an opponent who is coming back to the circuit after so many years and whom I haven't seen playing in recent seasons. necessarily tricky, ”commented the Spaniard.
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