Garbie Muguruza was left out in her debut at this edition of the Rome Masters 1,000 after succumbing to Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in three sets (3-6, 7-6 (4) y 6-1).
Muguruza is still mired in a crisis of play and results. After being eliminated in the Madrid Open and Indian Wells, the current number 10 in the world could not against the number 40which went from less to more, unlike the Spanish.
The match turned heads from the beginning, and the second set promised to be a formality, but Putintseva complicated Muguruza who finished well below her level.
Garbie decided the first set with a break to put the 5-3 in his favor on the scoreboard and impose his good service in the next one, managing the first stake in just over half an hour.
All the superiority that he showed in that clash disappeared in the second set. Putintseva began to trust her game and saw her opponent getting smaller and smaller. The Kazakh snatched the second serve from Muguuza and put two games in between, something that made the eighth seed of the tournament react to win hers the next time she had.
The parity in the game of both tennis players inevitably led the set to the ‘tie-break’, where the Spanish saw how up to five serves escaped her, which caused the extension to the third set.
And tragedy struck for Muguruza, who only made an appearance. The winner of the Women’s Cup was devastated by a 6-1 that the Kazakh signed to give another great surprise at the Foro Italico. With this defeat, Muguruza’s balance in 2022 is six games won and seven lost. She hasn’t made it past the quarter-finals in a tournament since winning the ‘master’ title last November.
In the round of 16, Putintseva, 40 in the world, will face the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, ninth seed in the tournament and new champion of the Madrid Open.
