Serena Williams — the defending champion — was eliminated from the French Open in two consecutive sets 6-2, 6-2, by 20-year-old clay specialist Garbiñe Muguruza from Barcelona.
Muguruza, ranked 24th in the world, made good and seemingly easy work of the number one ranked tennis player, Serena Williams, in a match that showed that the American star may be getting too “old” to face the much younger, faster opponents.
Williams was simply overpowered by the Spaniard, who only needed a little over an hour, 64-minutes, to humiliate the 17-time Grand Slam American Champion in straight sets, something nobody is used to seeing.
Muguruza dominated Serena Williams, keeping her behind the baseline and keeping nerves of steel throughout the match with excellent and not surprising results.
In Paris, world no. 1 Serena Williams is stunned by 20-year-old Garbine Muguruza of Spain http://t.co/rB9Bl9PiB3 pic.twitter.com/04X59ytyJW
— WSJ Sports (@WSJSports) May 28, 2014
Shocker! @GarbiMuguruza stuns defending @RolandGarros champ Serena Williams 62 62! http://t.co/Iu6lS1l3yT #RG14 pic.twitter.com/J3nlXNWdMT
— WTA (@WTA) May 28, 2014
The Barcelona native, along with 16-seed Sabine Lisicki — who eliminated Serena Williams in Wimbledon 2013 — are now the favorites to face Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
In a different match, Serena’s sister, Venus Williams’ match against teen Anna Schmiedlova, started in a more promising manner. However, she dropped two sets and also lost her match an hour before Serena’s disastrous appearance. Not a good day for the Williams sisters.
This was the first time Muguruza faced a number one player in the world such as Serena Williams , but it is no coincidence that she should come on top.
This season has been a good one for the 20-year-old after she took her first WTA title at Hobart, reached the final at Florianopolis, the semifinal at Marrakech, and had her best Grand Slam appearance — making the fourth round — at the Australian Open, where she lost to Serena Williams.
Muguruza banked on Williams’ second serve, winning 11 of 15 points and taking 17 of 25 points on her own second serve.
In remarks following her victory over Serena , the youngster said:
“She was my favorite player as a kid, and I watched her on TV growing up. When I practiced, I studied how Serena serves, how she plays a backhand. I saw like 100 videos of her. It was really difficult to be able to be calm and say, ‘It’s just another player who I can beat if I play well.’ But I think I did it, and that was the reason I was able to play like this.”
For a disappointed Serena Williams, it just wasn’t her day: “It was one of those days. You know, you can’t be on every day. I hate to be off during a Grand Slam, but it happens. It’s not the end of the world. It is what it is.”
[Image via Wikipedia ]
