Just like Novak Djokovic on the men’s side, there was a dominant woman in the WTA during the Asian swing. Garbiñe Muguruza may have not won two titles in the month of October like the Serb did, but she was pretty close. The Spaniard finished the month of October making two finals, one at the Wuhan Open and the other at the China Open. She made the final in Wuhan and won the title in the Chinese capital, and that was enough for her to earn the honors to be named VAVEL USA’s WTA Player of the Month.
Muguruza’s October
The Spaniard began her Asian swing in Wuhan and needed some wins under her belt after struggling since her finals showing at Wimbledon. She began to get it going with a dominant win against Sloane Stephens and picked up a three-set win over Ana Ivanovic. She continued to battle and earned wins over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and then Angelique Kerber. However, an injury bothered Muguruza throughout the final as she retired 3-6, 0-3 down with an ankle injury against Venus Williams.
Just days after retiring with that injury, the Spaniard made her way to the Chinese capital to try and one-up her run in Wuhan. The five seed was aided by the fact that a few upsets along the way meant she didn’t have to face a seeded player until the semifinals. The losses of Belinda Bencic, Roberta Vinci, and Simona Halep turned a potentially difficult road to the title to a much more manageable one. Muguruza ended up facing Irina Falconi, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands before meeting fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals. She would defeat the Pole in three tight sets before claiming the title in the final against Timea Bacsinszky. This tremendous run propelled the Spaniard to her biggest title of her career, her first WTA Premier Mandatory, and earned her a spot in the WTA Finals.