Recording her biggest victory in more than four years, sixth-seeded Garbine Muguruza beat eighth-seeded Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5 on Wednesday in the championship match of the WTA Finals at Guadalajara, Mexico.
Muguruza, 28, became the first Spanish woman ever to win the tour’s year-end championship. She earned the 10th singles title of her career, a list that includes the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017.
“I’m just very happy I proved to myself once again I can be the best. I can be the ‘maestra,’ like how we say in Spanish,” Muguruza said after the match. “That puts me in a very good position for next year, a good ranking.”
In fact, Wednesday’s result will move Muguruza up to No. 3 in the year-end rankings. It will be her highest year-end ranking since finishing No. 2 in 2017.
“Oh, I’m still the same,” Muguruza said. “I’m still the same. That’s what fuels me. This trophy, like right now here, these are the best feelings.”
Kontaveit will rise to a career-best No. 7 after reaching the final. The Estonia native ends the season with a tour-best 39 hard-court match wins, with Muguruza ranking second in that category with 35.
“I’d like to congratulate Garbine,” said Kontaveit, who also lost to Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 in the group stage of the event on Sunday. “You’ve beaten me twice this week, that’s just too good.”
Before this week, the only Spanish player to get to the WTA Finals’ title match was Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who lost the 1993 final to Germany’s Steffi Graf.
Both sets in the final followed the same pattern, remaining close until Muguruza broke serve in Kontaveit’s last two service games each time. Muguruza dropped only four points total while winning the last four games of the match.4
Kontaveit double-faulted six times, while Muguruza never gave away a point in that manner. Kontaveit also committed 39 unforced errors to Muguruza’s 25, while Muguruza hit 16 winners to Kontaveit’s 15.
“The last couple of years, I didn’t play the same way I played before,” Muguruza said. “But I didn’t play a bad tennis, either. … I always felt I had the tennis. I was just not putting the battle together. I always believe that I can make the finals of a Grand Slam, reach the (top) rankings. I’m like, I have the tennis, I just have to show it. It’s hard, of course.”
–Field Level Media
