A new maestra is born

GUADALAJARA (Mexico) • Garbine Muguruza loves Mexico.

Three of her 10 WTA Tour titles have been earned in the country and she now has a 14-2 overall record here after defeating Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5 to clinch the season-ending WTA Finals on Wednesday.

Muguruza, winner of the 2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon titles, capped a campaign that saw her return to the highest level with titles in Dubai and Chicago after three years outside of the top 10.

On becoming the first Spaniard to win the title, the new world No. 3 said: "I'm just very happy I proved to myself once again I can be the best, I can be the 'maestra', like how we say in Spanish.

"That puts me in a very good position for next year, a good ranking. How can I say? A good energy. It's just the pay-off for such a long year.

"My team and I worked hard. It pays off. Just shows us that we're doing the right way."

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was the only other Spanish player to reach the Finals championship match, falling to German great Steffi Graf in 1993 in New York.

Muguruza, 28, added that it was "just perfect" she emerged as the winner of "such a big, big, big tournament".

Being Spanish and having won back-to-back titles in Monterrey in 2018 and 2019, the two-time Grand Slam winner was the darling of the crowd over the past week.

"Definitely I'm very supported here in Mexico," she said. "I used it this week for sure."

Muguruza battled back from a break down in the second set, winning the last four games of the match to seal her 10th career title, breaking Kontaveit at love.​

Spain's Garbine Muguruza's win-loss record in Mexico, where she has won three of her 10 WTA Tour titles.

Win for Muguruza against Anett Kontaviet in the tournament following her group-stage victory.

She notched her second win of the tournament against the Estonian, having ended her opponent's 12-match WTA win streak with a round-robin victory on Sunday.

This was the seventh time in the history of the Finals that round-robin opponents have had a rematch in the final. But despite her loss, Kontaveit, the eighth seed and final player to qualify for the event, was not too downhearted.

Reflecting on her late-season surge - she was ranked 30th in the world in August before four titles in three months catapulted her into the top 10 for the first time - the 25-year-old said: "I think (this season) definitely has given me so much confidence, so much self-belief.

"I think the self-belief is a big thing, I think you can achieve as much as you believe you can. I think that's definitely what has really grown for me...

"My game is definitely improving in the right direction. I'm very excited for what's to come."

The doubles title went to Czech duo Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, who beat Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei and Belgian Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4.

They finished the tournament unbeaten to claim their fifth title of the year - a haul that included their third career Grand Slam doubles title at Roland Garros and an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo.

Last year's Finals were cancelled owing to Covid-19 and next year's Finals are expected to move back to Shenzhen, China after one year away.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS