Third seed Garbine Muguruza has been knocked out of the Australian Open after Su-Wei Hsieh prevailed 7-6(1), 6-4, in their second round match.
The Wimbledon champion struggled to find her range on the court as the temperatures soared in Melbourne Park. Claiming just 25% of points behind her second serve and hitting 29 winners to 43 unforced errors. Meanwhile, world No.88 Hsieh managed to capitalize on her opportunity as she broke the Wimbledon champion six times during the match.
Muguruza was pushed to her limits from the onset after dropping her serve twice to trail 1-4 at the start of the match. Eventually she managed to claw her way back to level, but a recent lack of match play hindered her as Hsieh dominated the first set tiebreaker. During the opener Muguruza also received a medical time out to treat blisters on her foot.
A similar story emerged in the second set with the Spaniard failing to generate any consistency in her game. Dropping her serve a further two times as she suffered her earliest Australian Open defeat since 2013.
“I was just trying to keep hanging in there when she was coming back, I need to stay positive,” Hsieh said after the match. “I knew she was going to give me a lot of pressure.”
The loss continues Muguruza’s nightmare start to the year. Leading into Melbourne, she withdrew from her two warm up-tournaments. In Brisbane she pulled out due to cramping before an abductor problem sidelined her from Sydney a week later. Prompting the Spaniard to re-revaluate her off-court preparations.
“I think there is something that we have to do better to be able to start the year in a better way, but for now, I will talk with them (my team), see what’s going on.” Said Muguruza.
“But I felt today much better, so that’s the good news. Yeah, we will see what we can do.”
Heieh’s tribute
Former world No.1 doubles player Hsieh praised her coach Paul McNamee following her shock victory. McNamee is the former tournament director of the Australian Open. It is the first time that the 32-year-old has reached the third round in Melbourne since 2008.
“He’s always been around me and supporting me. He’s amazing,” she said during her on-court interview.
“He was helping me to become world No.1 and be successful in doubles.
“But my goal to hire him at the beginning is to win a grand slam and then he pushed me to win two WTA singles (titles) and highest singles ranking.
“So it was amazing. We (have been) working almost four years together. Thank you, Paul.”
Next up for the Taiwanese player will be 26th seed Agnieszka Radwanska. The former Wimbledon finalist required more than two hours to defeat Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Hitting just 15 winners in the match compared to Tsurenko’s tally of 36.
