Simona Halep vs Garbine Muguruza Preview – WTA Stuttgart 2015 Round 2
The second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will feature a blockbuster match-up between Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza. It will mark the third ever encounter between the pairing, with the Spaniard leading the head-to-head series 2-0. This will also mark their first ever clay court encounter, so it will be interesting to see how different this turns out to be.
Following an excellent start to her 2015 season, which included title wins in Dubai and Indian Wells, Simona Halep most recently reached the semi-final stage in Miami, where she lost to Serena Williams. She will now begin her clay court season with an exceptionally tough obstacle in Garbine Muguruza.
“A tough match is awaiting me tomorrow,” Halep said on Tuesday. “I want to adapt myself to the clay, find my game a little bit and see how I have to play in the next tournaments. But here it’s pretty tough. Everyone is playing good tennis on a high level. It will be difficult, but I will fight for it, for sure.”
“I have to change some things from hard to clay courts, and maybe first I need a match to remember my style from the last years, my game,” she said. “But on clay you have time to think about the points, and I like to think. I always like to know what I’m doing for every shot. I like to be a little creative on the court. It’s my style. If I see something that’s not working for me in a match, I’m changing it.”
The Spaniard began her campaign in Stuttgart with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Barbora Zahlavova Stycova. She won 76% of her first service points to close out the match in one hour and 15 minutes.
This marks the first time that these two competitors will meet on the professional tour and could make for an entertaining and unpredictable contest between two of the top competitors on the WTA tour. The Spaniard leads the head-to-head series 2-0 and will look to remain undefeated against the Romanian in their first ever clay court encounter.