Second seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain saw off Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova in straight sets, winning 6-3, 7-6 (4) in what proved to be a comfortable debut win on day two of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore today (Oct 26).
Advertisement
Simona Halep breezed past the Number 7 seed, Flavia Pennetta 6-0 6-3 in convincing fashion which took her just over one hour to avenge her US Open semi-final loss.
Heavy-hitting baseliners Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber brushed aside Czech challengers to make a winning start to their WTA Finals campaign on Monday.
After claiming a maiden WTA title in Hobart a year ago, Muguruza’s brilliant run at Wimbledon was halted by Williams in the final, and the tall Spaniard claimed the China Open crown this month to climb to number four in the world rankings. “In Roland Garros she played an wonderful match”.
“It was a very tough match, I was very nervous as it was my first time here playing singles”, Muguruza said.
“I’m able to practice a little bit more than I did when I found out after Wimbledon”.
“I’m so happy to win, Petra’s an unbelievable player and had a great year”.
Czech Petra Kvitova will face Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the other White Group tie later on Monday.
The German showed nerves as she faltered and lost her serve when attempting to close out the match but Kvitova wasted set points at 6-5 as Kerber forced a tiebreak. “I still have to do a lot of things, work harder, improve more”, she mused.
“Well, I don’t think that’s really the truth”, Muguruza responded later. She won a 20-shot rally for match point.
Kerber rolled over a distracted-looking Kvitova, the world number five who has struggled this year with glandular fever, to win the first set 6-2. But she sailed a forehand long as Muguruza broke for the second time, collecting the opening set in 48 minutes.
The 22-year-old Spaniard served confidently, raining down 10 aces, and controlled the baseline exchanges on the slower indoor hardcourt at the Singapore National Stadium to continue her strong form.
Advertisement
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 mean, it’s just something I really can’t do anything against”.
