Muguruza caps year with WTA Finals title

Garbiñe Muguruza said earlier in the week that playing in Mexico was like playing at home. After winning the WTA Finals title on Wednesday in Guadalajara, it certainly looked that way.

The 28-year-old Spaniard beat Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5 to win the WTA Finals title for the first time in her career and improve her record playing in Mexico to 14 wins and two losses.

Muguruza, who won back-to-back titles in Monterrey in northern Mexico in 2018 and 2019, became the first Spaniard to win the women´s season-ending tournament.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was a runner-up two times, the last time in 1993.

The former No. 1-ranked Muguruza, who was a semifinalist at the WTA Finals in 2015, also became the oldest champion since Serena Williams won it in 2014 and will finish the season at No. 3 in the rankings, her best performance since 2017.

Muguruza was backed the whole week by a raucous crowd who gathered at Estadio Akron to cheer and clap for her as if she was one of their own.

Despite the loss, Kontaveit, who soared from No. 30 in the rankings into the top 10 in the last few months, is projected to finish at No. 7 in the rankings.

The 25-year-old Estonian finished the season with a 29-4 record in her last 33 matches, including her title run at Ostrava.

Novak Djokovic advanced to the semifinals of the ATP Finals by beating Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2 in Turin, Italy.

The top-ranked Djokovic is attempting to match Roger Federer’s record of six titles at the season-ending event for the top eight players in the world.

Djokovic is now 2-0 in the Green Group. He beat Casper Ruud in his opening group match.

Ruud kept alive his hopes of making the semifinals by beating Cameron Norrie 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. He now faces Rublev on Friday with a place in the final four on the line for both players.

Norrie was called in as the second alternate after 2019 champion Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to withdraw with an injured elbow.