Garbine Muguruza’s great year continued as she battled past Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets to win her second title of her career. The Spaniard who was seeded fifth fought back in the first set from 5-2 down to take the first set in what was a pulsating first set. The second set was much like the first with Muguruza getting the decisive break at 4-4 before serving out the match to take the title.
This win looks set to take Muguruza to within a point of Maria Sharapova in third place in the WTA rankings. Set to make her debut at the year-end championships in Singapore, the 22 year old will be encouraged by this win in what is her first title this year after coming so close to the Wimbledon title back in the summer. With Serena Williams having said she will not play again this year, Muguruza will have her eyes on winning another title when the top eight players of the year after Serena come together at the end of the tennis calendar.
Set to play in Hong Kong this week as the top seed, it would not be a surprise if the 22 year old was to withdraw this week to rest up for the year end championships.
As for Timea Bacsinszky, the Swiss will be encouraged by this week which saw a return to form for her. Having not won since Wimbledon, a losing streak which actually started with a loss to Muguruza finally came to an end this week as she beat Camila Giorgi in round one. With 2015 being a breakout year for Bacsinszky, she perhaps would’ve hoped to push on from two titles earlier this year as well as a semi-final showing at the French Open. However she will look ahead to 2016 knowing that she has the game to compete with the top players and will hope to add to her titles won this year.