E-Paper
Garbine Muguruza defeats Samantha Crawford to reach Australian Open 3rd round
Garbine Muguruza defeated American tennis player Samantha Crawford in a hard-fought match to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
Garbine Muguruza proved too strong for American tennis player Samantha Crawford as the seventh seed overcame a tough examination to make the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
The hard-hitting Spaniard struggled through 7-5, 6-4 and will next play Latvian 32nd seed Anastasija Sevastova, who beat Kristina Kucova in two easy sets.
READ | Roger Federer enters third round of Australian Open, to face Tomas Berdych
The French Open champion, with her right thigh strapped after complaining of a sore leg during her first round clash, is yet to go beyond the fourth round at Melbourne Park.
But she said ahead of the tournament she had matured and learned to better handle the pressure of being a top-10 player.
“She was super-powerful and hit the ball very hard, which made it difficult,” Garbine Muguruza said after the match. “Today, I had to concentrate and wait for my opportunity.”
READ | Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova storm into second round of Australian Open
Muguruza showed few signs of early nerves on a cool evening on Rod Laver Arena.
Rather it was 76th-ranked Crawford, a former US Open junior champion, who had the jitters, struggling to find her touch with a string of unforced errors as Muguruza rushed to a 3-0 lead.
But the American, who made a big run to the semi-final in Brisbane last year which remains her career highlight to date, started to get in the zone and broke in game four to get back in the contest.
Muguruza has always struggled with consistency and was rattled by Crawford’s blitz, dropping four games in a row to go 3-4 behind.
READ | Birthday girl Angelique Kerber unwraps perfect present at Australian Open
Both players are thunderous hitters of the ball and there were some fierce rallies before the Spanish star finally got a break in the 11th game and held on to take a tough set.
But it was far from convincing from a player who opened her season with a run to the Brisbane International semi-finals.
The two, in their first career meeting, went neck and neck in the second set with little between them until Muguruza broke to go 5-4 ahead and served out the win.
