Defending French Open champion Garbine Muguruza is set to take on Yulia Putintseva in the third round of French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, as she looks to defend her title. The Spaniard has not had the best of years as she just managed to reach two semi finals and will have to be at the top of her game on Friday if she wants to avoid an early exit.
Her opponent, Putintseva, has also not been at her best this year but she did manage to reach the final of the St. Petersburg Open, and made it to the last eight of Roland Garros 12 months ago. The Kazakh could cause another upset today as she has done in the past, defeating Caroline Wozniack, Andrea Petkovic and Carla Suarez Navarro.
Muguruza was up against former champion Francesca Schiavone in the first round of the French Open and won quite comfortably 6-2, 6-4. Her second round match against Anett Kontaveit proved to be more of a challenge and Muguruza was determined to win against the Estonian as she lost to her a few weeks ago at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
After losing the first set, Muguruza fought back in the second set to win it 6-4 and the final set was an easy win and she won it 6-2. The Spaniard will have to be much better if she needs to get past Putintseva.
As for Putintseva, the Kazakh defeated two Top 10 players this year — Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dominika Cibulkova — in St Petersburg, but she has been struggling since that tournament. She suffered early exist in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Rabat, Madrid and Rome but put in a decent performance at the Nuremberg Cup where she reached the quarter-finals.
Putintseva is set to take on her toughest test yet at the French Open when she goes up against Muguruza, as her first two matches were not much of a challenge. She easily defeated French wild-card entrant Myrtille Georges is straight sets and defeated Johanna Larsson next to reach the third round.
Muguruza and Putintseva have met just once before, in Beijing last year, and the Spaniard emerged victorious. But she faces a completely different challenge today. The defending champion came into the French Open not in the best of form and the fact that she entered the tournament with a neck injury might be a concern for her.
Where to watch
The French Open match between Garbine Muguruza and Yulia Putintseva is set to start at 11am local time 2:30pm IST and 10am BST.
TV and live streaming information
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD1 and Star Sports Select HD2. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: ITV. Live Streaming: ITV Hub.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
USA: TV: Tennis TV and NBC Sports. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra.
Canada: TV: TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports Arabia. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
Europe: TV: EuroSport. Live Streaming: EuroSport Player.
