LONDON, (Reuters) – Second seed Garbine Muguruza, gunning to add the Wimbledon crown to her French Open title, was sensationally beaten in the second round yesterday by a Slovakian qualifier, removing one of the biggest obstacles to Serena Williams defending her title.
Jana Cepelova pulled off the shock of the tournament so far, downing the Spaniard 6-3 6-2 in a nerveless Court One display.
Spaniard Muguruza, who lost to Williams in last year’s final, looked lacklustre and struggled with the accuracy of her powershots that had thrilled the French crowds.
“I think my energy was missing a little bit today,” she told reporters.
“Today during the match, and after the match, I’m like, it’s a tough day today. I feel empty a little bit, and I start to be sick. But I think it was a little bit of a combination.”
Muguruza had laboured in the first round against Italy’s Camila Giorgi on Monday, eventually winning through in three sets, but had not lost against a player ranked outside the top 100 since last August on the hardcourts of Cincinnati.
However, Cepelova, ranked 124th and having come through three rounds of qualifying, had served notice that she could cause an upset, having a two-two record over top-five players. The 23-year-old brought all the pedigree that helped her down then world number three Simona Halep in the first round last year, racing through the match in 59 minutes.
“I like to play on the big courts and today and also last year, my performance on the big court was pretty good. I think I played today well,” Cepelova told reporters.
She broke Muguruza at the first opportunity, forcing a backhand error, and never looked back, sassing her opponent at the net, outdoing her on the baseline and sealing both sets on the first set points.
“I think she played great, with no fear. She was trying a lot of stuff that was working. My energy was not really there. I was trying, but didn’t work at all,” Muguruza, 22, said.