Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza has managed to withstand a spirited fightback from Russian Daria Kasatkina, saving a match point to advance to the Brisbane International quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
The 23-year-old French Open champion ground out a 7-5 3-6 7-6(7) victory over the 19-year-old, rallying from an early break down in the deciding set and breaking when the Russian served for the match at 5-4 to keep her Brisbane campaign alive.
“Obviously I’m tired. I prefer to play one-hour matches and to be super good,” Muguruza said. “But I think those tough matches are going to help me to win confidence. It’s very helpful. I mean, to start the year playing these kind of matches gives me a good feeling.”
The Spaniard held a match point at 6-5 in the deciding-set tiebreak only to see her opponent bring up a match point of her own at 7-6. Muguruza made no mistake of it on her second chance, closing it out when the Russian pushed long.
It marked Muguruza’s second three-set win in as many days after edging out Australian Sam Stosur in another near three-hour thriller on Monday.
“Today was a battle. I think we both didn’t drop our level during the whole match,” she said. “But I feel proud of how I managed such a hard match. Was similar to yesterday. Trying to be calm in those moments, and, you know, go for my opportunity, because you barely have an opportunity.”
Muguruza will go on to play the winner of the match between fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and Australian teenager Destanee Aiava for a semifinal berth.