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Playing her first match since taking over the
top ranking, the Wimbledon champion broke her Puerto Rican
opponent twice in the first set and was even more dominant in
the second as she romped to a 6-4 6-0 triumph.
Puig dropped her serve in the first game of the match but used
her impressive court coverage to restore parity in the fourth
game before Muguruza seized control of the contest when she
broke her opponent again in the next game.
Once she had established a one-set lead, the 23-year-old
Muguruza moved up a gear to race away from the Puerto Rican
world number 70 and sealed the win with her third ace after 75
minutes.
Earlier, Karolina Pliskova appeared to suffer no ill-effects of
playing without a coach when the tall Czech swept aside Magda
Linette 6-2 6-1 to also advance to the last eight.
The world number four, who split with coach David Kotyza last
week, capitalized on an early break to win the first set in
little more than half an hour.
Pliskova's power proved too much for Linette, who was broken in
the second game of the second set, before the Pole's wayward
forehand helped her opponent book a place in the next round.
"I felt great today on the court," second seed Pliskova told
reporters. "I think my serve was working well... I'm really
happy with my win today."
Elsewhere, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova labored to a 6-4 4-6
6-2 win against China's Wang Qiang, who had inflicted a 'double
bagel' on out-of-sorts eighth seed Kristina Mladenovic in the
first round.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by John
O'Brien)
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