Garbine Muguruza has ended her disappointing campaign at the WTA Finals with a win after defeating a lacklustre Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Both players embarked on the match knowing that the outcome will have no impact on their Singapore campaign. Muguruza knew it would be her last match of the season after suffering back-to-back losses earlier in the week. Meanwhile Kuznetsova, who is the lowest ranked player in the tournament, has already produced two inspirational wins over Karolina Pliskova and Agnieszka Radwanska to book her place in the semifinals.
Continuing her winning momentum, it was Kuznetsova who went off guns blazing at the start of the match as she bullied a tentative Muguruza around the court before breaking her in the third game of the match. The Russian player’s winning first service rate of 93% was too much for the French Open champion to contend with throughout the opener. Strolling to the first set lead, Kuznetsova was gifted the advantage thanks to back-to-back errors from her opponent.
The first set to @SvetlanaK27. She takes it 6-3 #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/nHL8m8Xdzm
— WTA (@WTA) 28 October 2016
Producing such a strong display at the start of the match, Kuznetsova’s match dominance vanished after the opening set after a series of below-par shots and flat hitting enabled Muguruza to race through the second set. The dramatic momentum switch could be partly attributed to the eighth seeds high amount of match play is recent weeks. Nevertheless, it reignited Muguruza chances of winning the match and exiting Singapore $174,000 richer.
Muguruza’s wait and see approach rewarded her once again at the start of the final set as her rival continued to struggle with her form. Unlike the start of the match, the world No.6 was able to tame her tiring rival, who was visibly unhappy with her lacklustre performance. Breaking immediately in the decider, Muguruza was forced to fend off seven break points within one game to consolidate that break. After coming through the marathon game, Muguruza avoided any further threats in the encounter. Moving effortlessly around the court, a double handed backhand handed Muguruza a double match point, but she failed to convert both due to some sublime Kuznetsova serving. Nevertheless, It was third time lucky for the fifth seed following the 22nd unforced error of the match from her opponent.
Closing 2016 with a win, @GarbiMuguruza takes set 3, 6-1 over Kuznetsova #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/3uMyvoiJqm
— WTA (@WTA) 28 October 2016
Ending her season with a win, Muguruza produced a mixed display of 31 winners and 32 unforced errors against Kuznetsova in Singapore. She ends 2016 with a win-loss of 35-18.
“This tournament was very difficult for me because I started by losing two matches, but today I really wanted to go for the victory, to feel good with myself and I did it.” Said Muguruza during her on court interview.
Apart from exiting Singapore with an extra $174,000 in her bank following today’s win, Muguruza also takes with her 500 ranking points. Playing in a match with nothing to lose, the Spaniard admitted that the key to her win was due to her mentality, or to be more precise, her lack of mentality.
“I think it was just not thinking.” She responded when asked about the reason behind her win. “It has been a very difficult tournament for me, so I was just like ‘hey Garbine lets go play, do whatever you can and try to win’ that was it.”
An emotional #Muguruza after her win. “It was a tough situation,” she says #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/Te9fCLmaWY
— Nick McCarvel (@NickMcCarvel) 28 October 2016
