Garbine Muguruza Blames Covid Outbreak Among Team For Shock Australian Open Exit - UBITENNIS
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Garbine Muguruza Blames Covid Outbreak Among Team For Shock Australian Open Exit

The world No.3 reveals that her preparations for the new season was severely disrupted.

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Image via https://twitter.com/usopen/

Two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza says issues with her preparation leading up to the Australian Open played its part in her shock defeat on Thursday.

 

The third seed fell 6-3, 6-3, to French veteran Alize Cornet in what is her earliest exit from the tournament since 2013. Muguruza struggled with her consistency on the court as she produced a total of 33 unforced errors which was twice more than that of her opponent. The Spaniard also dropped her serve twice in the match, once in each set. It is the second year in a row she has been beaten by Cornet on the Tour.

I didn’t feel my game at all. My serve wasn’t there. I think my shots weren’t there also,” Muguruza said afterwards.
“Tactically I think I wasn’t doing the right decisions either. On top of that she played very well, a very solid game. I think she plays better when she’s playing against top players.” She added.

Muguruza has now won just two matches out of four played so far this season. Prior to the first Grand Slam of 2022, she fell in the second round of the Sydney International to Daria Kasatkina. The result is a stark contrast to how she ended last year by winning her maiden WTA Finals trophy.

Reflecting on her recent form, the 28-year-old says her preparation in recent weeks has been affected by an outbreak of COVID-19 among her team. As a result, they were unable to travel to Australia on the date which was initially planned and Muguruza ended up being without her entourage for two weeks.

“It’s been a pretty stressful start of the year with my team. They all got COVID before coming here. We were, like, for 15 days apart,” she revealed.
“It was hard for my preparation to come to the Aussie swing and play and perform well. Physically here I wasn’t also feeling my best. It was a kind of a stressful start of the year I would say.’

All players at the Australian Open have to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival but it appears that the rules have been somewhat relaxed as the tournament progressed. Muguruza says she takes her own test twice a day but is not required to do so. However, she doesn’t have to show that test result upon arrival at Melbourne Park.

Muguruza is the fifth former Grand Slam champion to exit this year’s Australian Open women’s draw, joining Sofia Kenin, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens.

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Carlos Alcaraz beats Yannick Hanfmann on his debut at the China Open

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This year’s Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 37 minutes on his debut at the China Open in Beijing three weeks after reaching the semifinal at the US Open. 

 

Alcaraz has improved his win-loss record to 59-7, leading the ATP Tour. The Spanish player leads the ATP Tour with 8 titles and 5 finals. 

Hanfmann saved eight of the eleven break points and broke twice in the first set. 

Alcaraz earned an early break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead, but Hanfmann broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Alcaraz converted his fourth break point in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Hanfmann pulled back on serve in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Alcaraz earned his third break with a forehand at 4-4 to seal the first set. 

Alcaraz broke twice in the third and ninth games to close out the second set 6-3. The two-time Grand Slam champion did not face a break point in the second set. 

Alcaraz converted five of the sixteen break points he faced. 

Alcaraz set up a second round match against Lorenzo Musetti, who beat Karen Khachanov 6-3 1-6 6-2. Khachanov won at the Zhuhai Open last week beating Yoshihito Nishioka  in the final. 

“Hopefully I have a lot of years to come here to China. Creating my chapter here in China would be great for me. To finally be able to come here to China and show my tennis in front of the Chinese people is something that I wanted a long time ago and I am really happy to do it, hopefully the first of many here”, said Alcaraz. 

Musetti converted his second break point in the second game to take a 3-0 lead. Khachanov broke back in the fifth game to draw level to 3-3. Musetti broke for the second time in the eighth game to seal the first set 6-3. 

Khachanov broke twice in the second and sixth games to close out the second set 6-1. 

Musetti broke Khachanov twice in the sixth and eighth games to seal the third set 6-2. 

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Jessica Pegula and Maria Sakkari advance to the semifinal in Tokyo

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Number 2 seed Jessica Pegula cruised past Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-0 in just 59 minutes at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to reach her seventh semifinal of the 2023 season.

 

Kasatkina earned an early break in the opening game of the match, but Pegula reeled off 12 consecutive games. The US player hit 25 winners and broke six times. She saved three break points as she served out the first set. Kasatkina was not able to convert eight game points across her first two service games. 

Pegula has scored her second win in as many matches against Kasatkina after beating her Russian opponent 7-5 6-3 in the first round in Rome 2021. 

Pegula has improved to 10-9 against top 20 rivals in 2023. 

Pegula set up a semifinal match against Maria Sakkari, who beat Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-2 in the quarter final. Sakkari claimed her second win in a week over her French rival equalling her career-best streak of seven consecutive match wins. Last week Sakkari beat Garcia 6-3 6-0 in the semifinal of the Guadalajara Open.  

Sakkari hit 15 winners to eight unforced errors and saved all six break points. 

The US player will meet her Greek rival for the ninth time in her career and for the third time this season. Sakkari leads 5-3 in her head-to-head matches against Pegula. They are 1-1 in their 2023 clashes. Pegula took the win 6-2 4-6 6-1 in the semifinal in Doha, but Sakkari turned the tables by winning the Washington semifinal 6-3 4-6 6-2. 

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Asian Games Champion Qinwen Zheng Reveals Shock Departure Of Coach Fissette

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Image via https://twitter.com/WTA_insider

China’s Qinwen Zheng says she feels ‘hurt’ by the decision of her former coach to end their collaboration in order to work with another player. 

 

The US Open quarter-finalist had been working with Belgium’s Wim Fissette in recent weeks following the departure of Pere Riba who is now the coach of Coco Gauff. Fissette has a wealth of experience in women’s tennis after working with the likes of Kim Clijsters and Naomi Osaka. However, Zheng says she is now looking for a new mentor.

“I understand his decision, but my family and I feel hurt. Right now I don’t want to talk about this person (Fissette),’ journalist Bendou Zhang quoted her as saying. 

Fissette is yet to comment on his departure. He had previously coached former world No.1 Osaka between 2019-2022 and during this period she won two of her four Grand Slam titles. The American-based Japanese player is on maternity leave from the sport and gave birth to her first child in July.

20-year-old Zheng is currently ranked 23rd in the world and won her maiden WTA title in Palermo earlier this year. She is the youngest player from her country to have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in the Open Era following her run at Flushing Medows. This year she has beaten top 10 players Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina. 

Zheng’s latest career milestone is winning gold at the Asian Games on Friday. in the final, she defeated Zhu Lin 6-2, 6-4, in the blistering Hangzhou heat.

“The feeling was incredible,” Zheng said. “I’m really happy about that. That was not an easy match today and also yesterday (in semifinal against Alex Eala). All of them are good fighters.”

It is not clear who Zheng will be working with during the Asian swing. 

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