Spain’s Garbine Muguruza defeated Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3, 7-6(4) in a league match of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals here on Monday.
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The 22-year-old Muguruza is the first Spaniard to play in the WTA Finals since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 2001.
Muguruza reached her first Grand Slam final this year at Wimbledon, losing to Serena Williams in straight sets.
Spaniard Muguruza dispatched Lucie Safarova 6-3 7-6 (4) before Germany’s Kerber overcame an error-strewn and unwell Petra Kvitova 6-2 7-6 (3) in a battle of the lefties in another White Group encounter.
Fellow Singapore finalist Agnieszka Radwaska, who has lost her last four matches against Muguruza, predicted that the Spaniard had the potential to become world number one.
Muguruza scored two breaks in the first set and recovered from an early break of her own service in the second to get it back on serve at 3-3.
Mattek-Sands and Safarova – who refer to themselves as Team Bucie, combining their first names into one – will take on Suarez Navarro and Muguruza on Sunday, while Hingis and Mirza will open their campaign on Monday. Hopefully, I can go out there, have a good match and go off the court saying, “Look, I played in the singles in Singapore for the first time and I gave all my effort”.
So far, Muguruza is enjoying the dizzying ride from a relatively unknown player to a star on the threshold of bigger things, but the transformation has made a huge impact on her tennis life.
“I think I earned my place here in Singapore”.
We have the coaches to hit with as well but before the matches I think it’s just time to play a few points and get the final touches from the coaches. I’m very excited. I’m kind of rookie.
“She definitely had a great season this year, a very powerful player and very solid on pretty much every surface”, said the Pole, who is making her seventh Finals appearance.
Kvitova was diagnosed with mononucleosis in August and has struggled with her stamina.
During the press conference, Muguruza also said she would continue working with French coach Sam Sumyk in the 2016 season, adding that everything is “perfect” at the moment.
However, 2011 victor Kvitova responded positively in the second set and even had two set points to force a decider, but she was unable to convert either of them.
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“I’m able to practice a little bit more than I did when I found out after Wimbledon”. It’s really tough to describe… “I was fighting, really concentrating”.
