Garbine Muguruza served for the match but ultimately couldn’t close against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu at the Madrid Open, exiting her home tournament in the second round.
Muguruza, seeded No.3 and the highest seed remaining after top two seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber were eliminated in the first round, fell 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3.
And the seeded carnage continued – joining Muguruza on the sidelines were 12th seed Elina Svitolina, 13th seed Karolina Pliskova, 14th seed Ana Ivanovic and 16th seed Sloane Stephens.
Another day of tragic losses: Stephens, Ivanovic and Muguruza. All repeat offenders. ???????? #MMOPEN
— WTAAddict (@WTAAddict) May 2, 2016
Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova – seeded fourth and fifth respectively and who faced off in the Madrid final of 2011 – were the only seeded players to advance on Monday.
The 34th-ranked Begu, who beat Eugenie Bouchard in her opening match, now faces another unseeded player, American Christina McHale, for a place in the quarterfinals.
Muguruza on Begu: "I was very impressed. I played her before I think like three times and I've never seen her play that well."
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) May 2, 2016
Begu led 5-2 in both the first and second sets before Muguruza stormed back.
The big-hitting Spaniard reeled off five straight games to pocket the first set and four in a row in the second to lead 6-5 and serve for the match.
Yet despite reaching 30-30 in the 12th game and standing just two points from the win, Muguruza couldn’t maintain her momentum.
Begu broke serve to send the second set to a tiebreak, dominated that, and then played the more solid tennis in the third to emerge a winner in two hours and 42 minutes.
Near silence in Madrid as Begu upsets Muguruza 57 76(4) https://t.co/K1dvRVUeYV three seeds all gone now. (Radwanska, Kerber, Muguruza) #WTA
— Erik Gudris (@ATNtennis) May 2, 2016
Muguruza is just 8-8 outside Fed Cup this year (no more than two wins at any tournament).
— Chris Skelton (@ChrisSkelton87) May 2, 2016
2 February 2017
Whether it is stretching to a wide forehand or simply moving to the ball, the physical nat... More
8 June 2016
Transitioning between surfaces can be one of the biggest challenges in the game. Understan... More
16 February 2017
In the first part of our series analysing the similarities and differences between men's ... More
9 January 2018
As the first Grand Slam of the season fast approaches, top-10 players are leading the char... More
© 2024 Tennis Australia