Kayla Day's family is so impressed with Garbiñe Muguruza, the reigning Roland Garros champ is part of the Day family.
Muguruza kept calm fighting back from a set down to hold off the 17-year-old American wild card, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and reach the BNP Paribas Open round of 16 for the first time in four years.
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Coincidentally, four years ago the Day family adopted a shelter puppy and named the dog "Garbiñe" as a tribute to Muguruza, who impressed Day's mother with her Australian Open performance.
"We were watching—how do you say—is it Garbiñe? Yeah, we were watching her playing Australian Open," Day recalled. "This was, like, four years ago on TV. And we had just rescued this little dog from the shelter, and my mom was, like, Wow, this girl is really good. I really like her. I think I'm going to name my dog after her.
"I don't think we're not allowed to call her "Garbiñe" anymore. It's just "Bean" from now on."
Informed of the dog Day connection, Muguruza replied "you're kidding me" adding "I will see her for sure because I like the way she plays."
In her BNP Paribas Open debut, the youngest woman in the main draw showed an impressive lefty serve and crackling forehand.
Day, who double faulted on match point and shed tears after the loss, showed she can compete with Top 10 players and left an impression on the world No. 7.
"I think she played very good," Muguruza said of the world No. 175. "She served very well. I think the first set I didn't play good. My level was not there. My shots were not there, and right away she took advantage and she won.
"And then I didn't let that frustrate me. I'm like, that's all right. I reset my mind. I go for the second set and the third. I think at the time I was playing a little bit better and better, even though that first set was a little bit bad. But I think she played good. I'm surprised with how she handled center court and, yeah, very good."
Photo credit: Matt Hazlett/BNP Paribas Open