Garbine Muguruza Sets Up ‘Historic’ All-Spanish Showdown At WTA Finals - UBITENNIS

Garbine Muguruza Sets Up ‘Historic’ All-Spanish Showdown At WTA Finals

The former world No.1 describes her latest match as her 'best win' at the tournament so far.

By Adam Addicott
5 Min Read
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Garbine Muguruza has ended Anett Kontaveit’s 12-match winning streak to secure a place in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Mexico.

The two-time Grand Slam champion came into her match against the Estonian knowing she had to win in order to progress beyond the group stages. Muguruza prevailed 6-4, 6-4, in just under 90 minutes with the help of seven aces and 13 winners. In the match she broke at the start of both sets en route to securing the victory. The win is sweet revenge for the Spaniard who only won two games against Kontaveit in the previous meeting at the Kremlin Cup last month.

Muguruza heads into the last four with two wins and a loss under her belt so far in the tournament. In her opening match she was ousted in three sets by Karolina Pliskova. However, she got back on track by defeating Barbora Krejčíková and Kontaveit. Kontaveit is the other player from Group Teotihuacán to qualify for the semi-finals.

“Today’s was a match that was kind of everything or nothing,” Muguruza said. “Starting the round-robin with a loss, it was never good. To finally get two wins and qualify was amazing. Today I think I played the best match out of the three. Cutting this long run from Anett, I was like, Okay, is it going to be me the one to stop her?”
“I think it was clear my serve was very important to not get broken, and to break her quite fast in the couple of sets. Just to maintain my serve and to dominate, try to do less mistakes than her also because the conditions are tough.” She added.

Awaiting the 28-year-old is the last four will be compatriot Paula Badosa in what will be a historic meeting. For the first time in WTA Finals history two Spanish players have reached the semi-final stage. Whoever wins will become the first player from their country to reach the title match of the competition since Arantxa Sanchez Vicrio back in 1993.

“This is amazing. I didn’t know all of this history,” Muguruza said. “1993, I was born that year.”
“It’s amazing there are four players left and two of them are Spaniards. I mean, that just shows that Spain has a great level of tennis and a great school. It’s going to be a fun match. It’s like you said, historical. Hopefully the crowd is going to be on the match. Whoever plays better is going to get the final.”

A Spanish woman has never won the WTA Finals title.

Pliskova ends season on a high

Elsewhere in Mexico, Pliskova has failed to progress beyond the group stages despite winning two of her three matches played. In her latest encounter, the Czech defeated fellow countrywoman Krejčíková 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. However, it wasn’t enough for Pliskova to quality with Muguruza moving ahead of her based on sets and games won.

Pliskova ends her year with a win-loss record of 36-20 but without any titles. Making it the first year where she hasn’t won at least one WTA title since 2012. However, she did reach the final of three tournaments, including Wimbledon.

Looking ahead to next year the 29-year-old confirmed that she intends to keep working alongside her coach Sascha Bajin who joined her team towards the end of 2020.

“With [coach] Sascha [Bajin], things are going great,” She said. “Of course, we’re set for next season, which is amazing for me. I hope also for him. I thought we had a great year. There is still many things we want to improve. Honestly, I feel happy with him. I feel he understands me. We kind of are working well together. Hopefully we can have a couple more good years.”

Pliskova was the most experienced player in this year’s field at the WTA Finals in terms of times played at the event.

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