Despite the defeat the fourth seeded Kvitova advanced to a semi-final clash against Sharapova.
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Two set points went begging for Safarova in game nine, but it mattered little as she held comfortably to move ahead.
Muguruza finished the round-robin stage 3-0 and only needed to win a set against Kvitova to earn a semifinal berth.
“Petra is an awesome player, she was playing great”, Muguruza said in a post-match courtside interview.
After a standout 2014, in which she reached the Wimbledon final and Australian and French semis, ending the year seventh in the world, the 21-year-old Canadian has won just 12 matches this year and fallen to world number 48.
Those victories took Muguruza’s seasonal win-loss stat up to an imposing 41-18 and the 23-year-old is 22-11 on hard-court having won back to back on the surface in Wuhan and Beijing in the build up to the Finals.
“They were counting. “Okay she won one set, now you must win just one set”, she said.
Kvitova next faces Maria Sharapova, while Muguruza will play Agienszka Radwanska in the semi-finals on Saturday.
While the Russian dominates their head-to-head matchup, Sharapova and Kvitova have not faced each other since last year’s WTA Finals, where the Czech prevailed 6-3, 6-2 in round robin play.
No sweat, right? But it is the second hurdle that Muguruza is most anxious about: Exhaustion.
The 22-year-old dropped her racket and let out a yelp of pain when she turned her ankle in the ninth game and while her movement appeared unaffected, her accuracy faltered as she allowed Kvitova to level the match with another break. I was actually not there. Kerbed needed only to win one set to advance. “I think the serves and returns weren’t that strong today probably from both of us”, said Kvitova, who had to depend on friend and Fed Cup teammate Safarova, for a massive favour.
There’s no stand-out shot that Radwanska has been able to use to counter Muguruza whereas the Spaniard’s game, with its power, makes the Pole even more vulnerable on the court. “I know what she’s playing, what to expect, although it was slightly surprising that she hit the backhands down the line often”.
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“Petra is an unbelievable player and she was obviously playing great”.
