US Open Junior Champion and world number 190 #WangXiyu pulled off one of the biggest upsets on the first day of the #MiamiOpen as she stunned local favourite #MonicaPuig in front of an exuberant crowd in straight sets, defeating the Olympic Gold Medalist with a straightforward 6-3, 6-1 scoreline after just an hour and seven minutes of action.
Losing just eight points behind her thunderous first serve, Wang excelled on her Premier Mandatory debut after receiving a wildcard into the main draw as a promising prospect. Breaking serve on five different occasions, the Chinese youngster blasted 18 winners to just 15 unforced errors while the Puerto Rican committed 25 errors while hitting just 13 winners, crashing out of the tournament at the first hurdle.
Grabbing the biggest win of her young career, Wang will now face seventh seed Kiki Bertens in the second round tomorrow, and this will be her first-ever match against a player ranked as high as the Dutchwoman.
Wang edges the tight opening set
The 17-year-old started the match in the best possible way — dominating the proceedings with her destructive lefty serve and powerful forehands. Applying the pressure during the baseline rallies, Wang was surprisingly the first to find the breakthrough as she overpowered Puig without a hassle.
Several forehand errors saw Puig earn her first break point of the match but she was wasteful on her chances as she sent a backhand long, allowing Wang to consolidate the break for a commanding 3-0 lead within a blink of an eye. Another break came our way as Puig was just simply outplayed, with Wang not having any mercy as her pinpoint forehands were just too good.
However, the first hiccup finally appeared in Wang’s game as she was unable to keep up the high level of play for a prolonged period. Losing a 30-15 lead, the youngster’s vulnerable second serves which averaged around 75 mph were brutally punished by Puig, who immediately grabbed one of the breaks back after Wang threw in a double-fault.
Anticipating the shots much better, Puig seemed to have adapted to the conditions and claimed her second consecutive game with the improbable comeback looking on the cards. Nonetheless, Wang was able to withstand the resistance and displayed some solid baseline tennis to hold for a 5-2 advantage, being just a game away from taking the set.
Successfully holding her serve, Puig handed the pressure straight back to Wang to serve out the set with many expecting the Chinese to struggle at the sight of the finishing line. Returning from a 0-30 deficit, Wang converted her third set point with an unreturnable serve.
Wang grabs the confident win
An on-court coaching session seemed to have provided Puig with new directions to work into — but that went completely wrong in the second set as she lost her rhythm. The world number 61 started the second set by getting broken following a series of errors, and this only provided her opponent with more confidence.
Earning yet another comfortable hold, Wang burst out to the early lead and put herself in the pole position to close out the match. A clean hold from Puig was not enough to deter Wang from her route to victory as Wang is not like any other youngster — who might have just mentally collapsed after the higher-ranked opponent regained the momentum.
Four consecutive games went the way of the 18-year-old as she rightfully closed out the match after just 67 minutes of play, completely dominating the world number 61 in straight sets.
SPECIAL THANKS to Jimmie48 Tennis Photography for the photos! Do visit his website for more coverage of the WTA Tour!
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