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French Open 2016: Muguruza beats Williams to claim title

June 4, 2016

Garbine Muguruza stunned Serena Williams to claim her maiden Grand Slam win at the French Open on Saturday. The Spaniard, 22, put in a powerful and composed display in her first clay court final to seal a 7-5 6-4 win.

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Garbine Muguruza French Open Frankreich Tennis
Image: Reuters/P.Rossignol

Muguruza missed a series of Championship points in the ninth game on Williams' serve as the pressure started to tell. But despite losing that game, she raced into a 40-0 lead in the following game before an inch-perfect lob brought tears to the Spaniard's eyes and huge cheers from the Roland Garros crowd.

"It's the perfect final and I am so happy," she said after lifting the trophy. "I grew up on clay, so for Spain and me this is just amazing. Serena is a very powerful player and I just tried to fight as hard as I can."
Williams was gracious in defeat and rued the fact that her best wasn't quite enough on the day.

"Congratulations to Garbine. She played really well today," said Williams, who confirmed that she had been slightly troubled by an adductor problem.

"I could have served better, made a lot of errors on return, but I did try hard out there."

Muguruza only dropped one set all tournament - the first she played - and despite the gap in Grand Slam experience, she wasn't cowed by what her opponent threw at her. The Spaniard consistently hit the lines with powerful shots on both forehand and backhand and forced Williams into a series of errors. She was particularly fierce on Williams' second serve.

Garbine Muguruza French Open Frankreich Tennis
The Spaniard claimed her maiden Grand Slam title on SaturdayImage: Reuters/P.Rossignol

Williams, who has won this tournament three times and has 21 Grand Slam singles titles in all, started brightly, forcing a break point in the fourth game, but in a sign of things to come, Muguruza seized the moment and forced an error from her American opponent with a powerful first serve.

The fourth-seeded Spaniard, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, kept her cool despite missing her first two set points to take the first set after nearly an hour.

She maintained her momentum in the second, breaking Williams in the first set. The American responded, breaking straight back, before Muguruza again broke the Williams serve.

As the final lob dropped in, the Spaniard checked that the shot landed inside the line before bringing her hands to her face, sinking to her knees, then onto the court.

The 22-year-old, who lost to Williams in last year's Wimbledon final, is the first Spaniard to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1998.
mp (AP/AFP)