Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza fell in the second round of the Birmingham grass court tournament on Thursday to Barbora Strycova, the 24th ranked Czech.
Strycova beat the top-seeded Spaniard, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour, 26 minutes.
“I’m a fighter and I like to fight, on and off the court,” said Strycova. “Sometimes when you fight, you’re rewarded and I’m very happy with my match today.”
Just 10 days before Wimbledon, the third-ranked Muguruza made 29 unforced errors. After dropping the first set, she led 4-2 in the second before collapsing and losing the last four games.
Serving for the match, Strycova squandered three match points, the last with a double fault, before steadying to seal victory.
“It went so quick and I was serving well, nearly two aces and I was 40-0 and I was shaking,” Strycova said at the press conference.
“I’m leading and I’m shaking. I was questioning. Then I start to be very nervous. My hands were shaking. I was like, ‘Why I am shaking? This is not a Grand Slam final.’”
Strycova now has a 4-3 record against Muguruza and three of the Czech’s victories over Top 5 opponents have come against the Spaniard.
“Every time I play her, I have to play my best tennis, and it happens,” Strycova said.
Fourth seeded Czech Petra Kvitova, twice a Wimbledon champion and the winner in Birmingham last year, took the first four games against Russian Daria Gavrilova on the way to a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 victory.
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