Muguruza wins Chicago title, boosts WTA Finals chances
Two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza has bolstered her chances of qualifying for the season-ending WTA Finals next month with a comeback victory over Tunisia's Ons Jabeur to claim the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic title.
The Spaniard, a former world No. 1, was down a set and a break but fought back strongly to beat Jabeur 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 to claim her second title of the year and ninth overall.
The victory helped Muguruza climb two spots to No. 6 on the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard and three places on the women's rankings.
“Making finals is so hard,” the 27-year-old, who has contested four finals this year, told the WTA. “I've been around for quite some time now and I know that winning titles is something very difficult.
“To have the opportunity to win four and I won two, is already a great sign because that's something that you can touch. You can prove hey, we're doing a great job. Here's a trophy, we're doing good.”
Muguruza is aiming to qualify for her first WTA Finals since 2017, having played the event three times from 2015 when it was held in Singapore.
Defending champion and topranked Ash Barty, world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, world No. 3 Karolina
Pliskova and French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova all have qualified for next month's tournament.
Big-serving Czech Pliskova was the latest to secure her spot in Guadalajara on Monday, having reached the finals of the WTA 1000 events in Rome and Montreal and Wimbledon in July.
The Finals, contested by the world's top eight singles players and eight doubles teams, was moved out of China's Shenzhen after last year's event was cancelled due to the pandemic and will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“I know it's going to be very nice over there because Latin people are fire,” the Venezuelan-born Muguruza said. “I think the girls are going to enjoy it.”
Jabeur, who is looking to become the first Arab woman to qualify for the WTA Finals, was ninth on the leaderboard.
Norway's Casper Ruud and Italy's
Jannik Sinner have moved up in the leaderboard in the race to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, by winning tournaments in California and Bulgaria.
Ruud, 22, picked up his first tour-level title on hard courts on Sunday when he swept past Cameron Norrie 6-0, 6-2 at the San Diego Open to reclaim eighth place from Hubert Hurkacz.
Hurkacz, who picked up his third tour-level title in 2021 in Metz, France, slipped to ninth, with Sinner 10th on the list.
“I know that now I will jump up to eighth and it's fun because Jannik (Sinner) and Hubert are the closest guys behind me,” Ruud told the ATP Tour website.
“Within these two weeks we've all won a tournament, so it's a strong competition now”
Sinner beat Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 to defend his ATP 250 title in Sofia and boost his chances of making the cut for the season-ending tournament in his home country.
The ATP Finals is played between the top eight men's singles players and doubles teams and will be held from Nov. 14-21.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev and French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas already have qualified for the tournament.