The duo from Chinese Taipei will be the third team of sisters to compete in the WTA Finals, after Serena and Venus Williams in 2009 and Katerina and Manuela Maleeva in 1986.
Advertisement
While the win didn’t really impact Muguruza’s chances of qualifying for Singapore, given that she’s already qualified, winning the final in Beijing will see her cross Maria Sharapova in the rankings list for Singapore and claim the second place after Simona Halep.
Muguruza, the first Spanish woman to qualify for the year-end championships since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 2001, could be joined in the WTA Finals by countrywoman Carla Suarez, who is now 10th in the Road to Singapore standings but just 30 points behind eighth-place Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
It was one of three wins the unseeded Italian had secured over the 14-times Grand Slam champion this year, but Nadal ensured there would not be a fourth.
Ivanovic started the match well with an early break, but needed another in the 12th game to take the opening set after Bacsinszky had brought the match back on serve. Recalling that match at Wimbledon, Bacsinszky did this well until the decisive moments of the first set when the pressure really told as she felt extra pressure to force the issue on her backhand and made costly errors.
“It was a tough first set, as I expected”. “I played much closer to the baseline than the previous days”. “So I said, No, no, I cannot wait to get worse”.
Nadal, 29, last won a hardcourt title 21 months ago in Qatar.
“It’s definitely been an up and down season, especially at the beginning of the year”.
Advertisement
Sixth seed Ana Ivanovic was another third-round victor, seeing off Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5 4-6 6-2, but two other seeds failed to reach the quarter-finals. Muguruza advanced after downing Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
