How Kvitova powered past Muguruza and took another step in her journey

NEW YORK—We call Garbiñe Muguruza “Muguruthless” when she’s on her game, and she had been on it for the last two months. Wimbledon, Cincinnati, the first week of the US Open: The 23-year-old Spaniard had never put together such a sustained run of world-beating tennis. She was the favorite to win the Open when it began, and despite being dropped into a powerhouse quarter, she was still the favorite when she took the court against one of those powerhouses, Petra Kvitova, on Sunday night.

Through the first five games, there was no reason to revise that assessment. If anything, Muguruza looked more ruthless—intelligently ruthless—than ever. She jumped to a 4-1 lead over one of the few opponents who, when she’s timing the ball well, has the potential to hit her off the court. Muguruza was holding her own, pace-wise, with Kvitova, and beating her when it came to placement and consistency. The blend of aggression and margin that she had found over the summer was starting to look invincible.

At 1-4, Kvitova faced two break points; lose one of them and the set was all but finished. She saved the first with a service winner, and then she hit the most significant shot of the match, a backhand that looked like it might fly out but found the baseline instead. With those break points saved, Kvitova become a different player. On the next two points, she belted a crosscourt forehand winner and sent another down the line for the hold.

The rest of the set was a dogfight, and reminiscent of the baseline tug of war between Muguruza and Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final. Games were long and hard fought, but gradually Kvitova’s superior power began to wear Muguruza down. She broke serve for 3-4 with a blistering pair of ground-stroke winners and won a long service game for 4-4. Perhaps the most telling sign of how the match was trending was the volume of Muguruza’s grunts; as the set progressed and she strained to maintain her edge, they turned to shrieks.

Still, Kvitova and Muguruza remained neck and neck until they reached 3-3 in the first-set tiebreaker. That’s when Kvitova hit one of her biggest shots, a crosscourt forehand winner, and Muguruza made her biggest mistake: At 3-4, with an open court and a sitter forehand volley in front of her, she pushed the ball six inches long. For the next 30 minutes, Muguruza played as if she were in a state of shock. She double-faulted for 3-6 in the tiebreaker, and, serving at 1-2 in the second set, she framed another volley and was broken. For the first time in a long time, she looked unsure of herself, her eyes dazed.

From there, the miscues began to fly off Muguruza’s racquet, especially on the forehand side. She finished with 25 unforced errors and hit an unthinkably low seven winners. In the final game, with Kvitova serving at 5-3, Muguruza had three chances to break; on two of them she sent forehands long, and she did the same when Kvitova reached match point for the first time. The favorite was out, and the crowd favorite was the winner, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Muguruza’s poor play, of course, was a direct result of Kvitova’s excellence. Muguruza understood that, and it seemed to make accepting this defeat a little easier.

“Even though I was winning [early], I think she was playing great,” said Muguruza, who had lost two of three previous meetings with Kvitova. “I felt like she was superior today. You know, great for her. She played very good.”

But Muguruza couldn’t complain about her effort, on this night or over the course of this season. She recognized how special her recent run has been.

“Even though today didn’t go my way, I didn’t feel I did something wrong out there,” she said. “Overall it’s a very good tournament for me. Not only a good tournament, but the summer in general. This match is just a match, but I’m happy with [the entire] period I’ve been playing.”

Kvitova, of course, was even happier. Not just with her play tonight, but with how she has rebounded, on and off the court, since being attacked in her home in the Czech Republic this winter.

“I don’t think I can find the words to describe my emotions,” Kvitova said. “I didn’t know how this journey would end.”

She was especially pleased that this part of the journey ended with her back on “the big stage” in New York, and with her old skills intact. By the end of the first set, Kvitova knew that she still had what it took to beat the Wimbledon champion.

“Sometimes” against Muguruza, she said, “she has the moments when I can take the chance.”

Whether Kvitova had taken that chance or not on Sunday night, it was enough for her to know that she can still connect on her famous forehand and watch its breathtaking power. For her, that’s what getting back to normal life means.

“It feels great!” Kvitova said with her biggest smile of the night.

(Photos in the story courtesy of Anita Aguilar.)