By Chris Oddo | Wednesday May 16, 2018
Daria Gavrilova saved a pair of match points and rallied past third-seeded Garbine Muguruza to close a long day at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
Photo credit: Internazionali BNL d'Italia Facebook
Australia’s Daria Gavrilova snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and reached the third round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the fourth consecutive year on Wednesday in Rome, defeating No.3-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(6).
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The Aussie rallied from 0-4 down in the decider and saved two match points, one with Muguruza serving at 6-5 in set three and the other at 5-6 in the third-set breaker to earn her 11th career victory at Rome against just three losses.
Rome is the sight of Gavrilova’s breakout tournament in 2015. She came from qualifying all the way to the semifinals before falling to Maria Sharapova in straight sets.
Gavrilova will get another shot at Sharapova on Thursday. She owns a 1-1 lifetime record against the three-time Rome champion with both of those matches coming in 2015.
In total Gavrilova has earned four Top 10 wins at Rome.
Against Muguruza she earned her first Top 5 win since 2016 and just the fourth of her career. The Spaniard had reached back-to-back semifinals at Rome, but drops to 8-5 lifetime at the Foro Italico and 15-9 overall in 2018.
Gavrilova saved 13 of 18 break points in the three hour and eight minute contest with Muguruza.
The Spaniard has struggled on clay this spring, and she has struggled closing out matches all season. She drops to 2-3 on clay this season was beaten in the third round at Madrid last week by Daria Kasatkina, and retired in the first round at Stuttgart against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Muguruza certainly had her chances. She came from a break down to take the opener but was dominated by the 24-year-old Aussie in the second set. The 24-year-old then took a 4-0 lead in the set three but could not hold off the feisty Gavrilova, who took the next five games before falling behind 6-5.
Gavrilova will have to endure a tight turnaround on Thursday. She finished up well after midnight and will be back at it in the late afternoon on Thursday against Sharapova.