Garbine Muguruza Wins French Open By Defeating Serena Williams

Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, just 22 years old, stunned the 34-year-old defending champion 7-5, 6-4 at Roland Garros to claim her first Grand Slam title.

Williams could not have racked up numbers 19 to 21 any quicker, however, as she won the first three majors of 2015, putting her on course for the calendar grand slam that only Graf, Court and American Maureen Connolly have achieved.

Williams fought bitterly to hold onto her crown, saving four match points in a dramatic penultimate game, but Muguruza was not fazed.

The Spaniard, 12 years her junior, was playing in just her second having lost last year’s Wimbledon final to Williams.

The world number four, a finalist at Wimbledon past year, came out on top 7-5 6-4 at Roland Garros to stun her American opponent and earn her first taste of success on the big stage.

“For sure watching Serena’s last couple of matches, you would think her intensity was a little less but (in the final) Serena was in full force and I think Garbine did very well because she was the one that went for the match and won the match”.

You can’t get that kind of versatility without being an all-around exceptional athlete.

The all-time record of 24 is held by Margaret Court.

“She doesn’t wake up every morning thinking about it”.

“When he said, “game, set, and match”…it was like …no way”. “The pressure of leaving an indelible mark on history is incomparable”. People are asking me what I feel, but it’s several things that I’m feeling.

The defeat marked Williams’ third successive loss to deny her a title in a major tournament. It was her second major final, following a loss to Williams at Wimbledon a year ago.

Sport cited the “limitless ambitions” of the new French Open champ, who told reporters that she was not satisfied with winning one Grand Slam title.

“To Patrick, my coach, I wanted to win but hopefully next year”, an emotional Williams said.

The rain that flooded Paris enough to shut down the Louvre museum, upset the tournament scheduling.

Muguruza won the coin toss and let Williams serve first, a fascinating choice given the American’s prowess with that part of the game.

Serving for the set there was plenty of opportunity for her to wobble as Williams created two break points but she saved both and then took her third set point with a backhand that the American was right on top of but could only watch fly by helplessly. On one early point, Muguruza whiffed completely on an attempted backhand return of an 89 miles per hour (143 kph) high-kicking second serve.

It all worked out. What it boils down to is that Muguruza broke Serena four times, including three in a row.

The first set saw Muguruza overcome nine double faults, including two early ones to open the frame.

“So many holes (in my game)”.

An unreturnable crosscourt forehand gave Muguruza another break.

But Muguruza was solid on her serve despite the occasional double fault and the Spaniard went 4-2 and then 5-3 up. Both women hit hard, trading bold forehands and backhands from the baseline that made it seem unfair to characterize almost anything as an “unforced error”.

But it could not have been more different this time as she blasted her way to the title.

Williams actually posted better numbers in winners and unforced errors, compiling 23 winners and 22 unforced errors to Muguruza’s 18 and 25.

Still, Williams broke to 4-all, and they were at 5-all when Muguruza regained control. She might want to talk to Ana Ivanovic, Sam Stosur and Angelique Kerber about how much more hard playing gets post winning a Slam.

At 22, Muguruza now has the world at her size-10 feet.

Serena Williams offered no excuses after a straight-sets defeat to an “unbelievable” Garbine Muguruza in Saturday’s French Open final.