Garbine Muguruza has moved up to world number 2 in this year’s Porsche Race to Shenzhen after winning the first WTA 1000 tournament of the season in Dubai beating Barbora Kreijcikova in the final.
The Spanish player reached three finals this year at Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne, Doha and Dubai. She began her 2021 campaign in Abu Dhabi, where she scored wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Kristina Mladenovic before losing to Maria Sakkari in straight sets.
In her next tournament at the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne Muguruza dropped a total of ten games in matches against Alison Van Uytvanck, Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova, Sofia Kenin and Vondrousova to advance to her first final since the Australian Open in 2020. In the final she was beaten by Ashleigh Barty in straight sets.
At the Australian Open Muguruza beat Margaryta Gasparyan, Liudmila Samsonova and Zarina Diyas to advance to the the second week of the “Happy Slam” for the third consecutive year. She lost to eventual Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka in the fourth round in a three-set match, where she held two match points in the third set.
Muguruza started her Middle-East campaign in Doha where she beat Veronika Kudemertova, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka before avenging her Abu Dhabi defeat against Sakkari to advance to th semifinals. Muguruza received a walkover after Victoria Azarenka withdrew before the match due to a back injury. Muguruza finished runner-up to Petra Kvitova after losing a straight-set final in a re-match of the 2018 Doha final.
Muguruza advanced to her second consecutive final in Dubai. After straight-set wins over Irina Camelia Begu, Amanda Anisimova, 2020 Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek, Muguruza came back from a set and a break down to repeat her win over Sabalenka to get through to her third consecutive semifinal in Dubai. The Spaniard beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens in two straight sets in the semifinal before defeating former doubles world number 1 Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets to claim her eighth career title.
“It was a tricky match because it was hard to get a feel for her game. I had to work so hard in the first set, ad the difference was just point. I think Barbora played great. She had an incredible run. I am just happy I was stronger today”, said Muguruza after the Dubai final.
Muguruza needed 2 hours and 8 minutes to beat Kreijcikova in straight sets. The Czech player enjoyed a great week, dropping just 26 games and winning every match without losing a set.
“It’s a great achievement. I have been coming to Dubai many years in a row and I felt I was close, but today finally I got the trophy and I am very happy to get this one. This week it all paid off. The other weeks I was close but perhaps I fought a bit harder this week. I feel like the consistency is so hard to get and being able to play in three finals is a good sign that we are on the right track”.
Muguruza won her biggest title since Cincinnati 2017. She has extended her record to 18 wins to 4 defeats over five ournaments. She lost three of her four matches against top 10 players Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova.
“I am very motivated. I have been working hard. I have a good team around me. I feel it’s a good moment in my career, with my age, with my knowledge, the things that I have achieved. I don’t think I have to prove no more that I can play a Grand Slam, that I can be number 1. This is over. Now it is time to just forget all those things that you are thinking when you are young, when I going to win a Grand Slam ? When I am going to number 2 or number 1 ? All of those things have gone already. Of course I want to be in those positions again but this is not the pressure anymore. I have done it and I want to do it again”, said Muguruza.
