First modification: 06/09/2021 – 11:34Last modification: 06/09/2021 – 08:39
New York (AFP)
The Spanish-Venezuelan tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza again stumbled on Sunday with the barrier of the knockout stages of the United States Open when she fell to the Czech Barbora Krejcikova in a match with a controversial ending.
Muguruza left the center court of Flushing Meadows with gestures of great annoyance after Krejcikova stopped the Spanish comeback after a passage through the locker room in a medical timeout.
The current Roland Garros champion was treated for apparent respiratory problems and, at the end of the match, she was helped to retire by a doctor and a coach and did not attend the press.
“I don’t really know what happened, but I couldn’t breathe. I started to feel dizzy and the whole world was shaking. It had never happened to me before,” Krejcikova explained in statements released by the WTA.
Muguruza, winner of two Grand Slam tournaments, fell by a final score of 6-3 and 7-6 (7/4) in an hour and 53 minute game that ended after midnight in New York.
The elimination is a great disappointment for the Spanish born in Caracas, who was one of the most illustrious names of the eighths that the current champion, Naomi Osaka, nor the current number one, Ashleigh Barty had not reached.
As in 2017, Muguruza ended up saying goodbye in the round of 16 of the US Open, the only Grand Slam of which he has never played a final.
At the start of the game against Krejcikova, the Spanish was a shadow of the player who had just defeated the former world number one Victoria Azarenka.
Krejcikova quickly fell three games to zero and, with Muguruza showing no reaction capacity, she continued to accelerate until she pocketed the first set.
In the second, Muguruza lost his serve in the first and was 4-0 against that heralded a fast-track finish. Without great fuss, point by point, the Spanish settled on the track and won the next five games, reaching two set balls that she could not specify.
– Controversial ending –
With Muguruza leading 6-5, Krejcikova called for medical assistance and retired for eight minutes to the locker room. Upon her return, the number nine in the WTA ranking quickly put the match back in her favor.
The Czech won seven points in a row to force the ‘tiebreak’ and lead 3-0 as Muguruza went from astonishment to anger. With her defeat sealed, the Spaniard coldly greeted her rival at the net and left the court with great gestures of annoyance while Krejcikova collapsed in the chair for a few minutes and was helped off the pitch.
“I prefer not to talk about this, I leave it up to you to judge,” Muguruza told reporters. “Between players they know a bit how to behave at certain times and, yes, I was not very happy at the end of the game.”
“In the end I was really in trouble and now I feel really bad,” Krejcikova added. “I just gave it my all at the end. It’s tough because it was my first time playing on such a big court in the night session and until then I was having a lot of fun.”
Muguruza, whose last Grand Slam triumph was at Wimbledon in 2017, acknowledged that he was not at his best in the clash.
“It was not my best game. I did not start the first set or the second well. At the end of the second I reacted but it was late,” he said. “My shots did not have the effect I wanted. I did not serve my best tennis today.”
Krejcikova will face Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, second seed at Flushing Meadows, in the quarterfinals.
© 2021 AFP
