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Garbine Muguruza won the 2017 Wimbledon Women’s Singles after defeating legendary Venus Williams in a shockingly one-sided victory, which ended 7-5, 6-0 in a short and stunning two-set match.
2016 French Open champion Muguruza lost the 2015 Wimbledon finals to Venus’ sister Serena Williams, so this year marked her chance to get back on the grass and show the world what she was capable of. Muguruza did just that, with an almost flawless Wimbledon run that saw her drop only a single set (to Kerber) throughout the competition.
The first set was a fiercely contested battle, with the 37 year old Venus and 23 year old Muguruza fighting long and hard in rallies that looked like they would never stop, including a 19-shot rally in which Muguruza eventually emerged with the point.
It was Venus who led for much of the first set, but Muguruza held firm and finished with a perfect lob to gain two set points. If the second set was to live up to the first, we were in for a treat!
Yet the second set was a disappointment. Having been bested in the first, and catching sight of the true strength and ability of her opponent, it seemed that Venus simply lost her will to win. Perhaps the pressure related to the recent fatal Palm Beach car crash got to her, or symptoms of the Sjogren’s Syndrome that began to haunt her six years ago resurfaced, but Venus just did not seem true to form. Perhaps age is finally catching up with the ultra-fit American future Hall of Famer.
Venus’ serve slowed to as little as 89 mph at times, and mistakes started to seep into her game. Muguruza capitalized and held her pace to stun the crowd with a quick 6-0 victory. Muguruza won the final against Venus Williams in just 1 hour 17 minutes.
There is no denying that Venus Williams’ personal circumstances could be affecting her form, but Gabrine deserves credit where credit is due. She played an expertly-paced game against Williams, she overcame adversity in the first set (down set point), and her earlier performances were nothing short of overwhelming at times.
Muguruza defeated first round opponent Alexandrova 6-2, 6-4 and followed up against Wickmayer in the second round with the same scores. She slaughtered third round Sorana Cirstea with a 6-2, 6-2 win, before treating us to one of the best games of the competition against Angelique Kerber in the Round of 16.
Kerber was the Number 1 Seed and this one was never going to be easy. In fact, it could have gone either way at any time. Muguruza came out with an aggressive offensive game, but Kerber neatly counter-attacked, leading to a steady back-and-forth that continued for a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes. After losing the first set, Muguruza turned up the heat and took the final two sets for a final score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. It was a sensational, career-changing type of win.
The quarter and semi-final stages didn’t pose too much of a threat for Muguruza. It’s fair to say that with her victory over the world number one, the worst was over for her. All she had to do was hold strong through the finals. Muguruza achieved this by crushing 7th Seed Kuznetsova and then cruising through Rybarikova with a 6-1, 6-1 win. Beautiful.
At only 23 years old, and having just claimed her second Grand Slam title with her Wimbledon Women’s Singles victory, Muguruza is definitely one to watch in the future. She has shown the potential to be a dominant World No. 1 caliber player if she can maintain her Wimbledon form.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer won the Men’s Singles title in an iconic victory that marked his 19th Grand Slam win. He is now the favorite to win the US Open with 23/10 odds on BetStars.
