SPAIN'S Garbiñe Muguruza has made history again by becoming the first woman from her country to win a WTA championship title, four years after being the first female Spanish Wimbledon winner since 1994 and having already been in the world number one slot once in her career.
Tennis fans were eagerly awaiting the WTA semi-final, since Garbiñe was due to face fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa, who became the first-ever female from her country to win the Indian Wells Masters 1000 last month.
She was up against Garbiñe the very day after her 24th birthday, which was Monday this week, and despite her relative inexperience compared with her compatriot and rival, put up a good fight before being defeated 6-3 6-3.
In the final of the tournament in Guadalajara, México, which is only open to the top eight female tennis players on earth, Garbiñe was up against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit who was described by sports reporters as 'clearly nervous', given that this round was 'the most important match of her career so far'.
Her 22 unforced errors enabled Garbiñe to take advantage, and the Spanish ace was on top form, netting 63% of her points with the first serve and said to be 'flying' and 'racing all over the court'.
Garbiñe broke in the third game but was unable to follow through, ending on 2-2 in what was a nail-biting start to Wednesday's final, but by the seventh game had all but clinched the set.
With the board showing 30-40 to Garbiñe, Anett Kontaveit hit the ball into the net and her rival's break gave her the 6-3 victory.
Both women upped their game in the second set, with Anett apparently calmer and more patient, saving a break in the sixth game and breaking in the seventh, giving her a 4-2 advantage, which her serve increased to 5-3.
At this point, the result could have gone either way, but Garbiñe gained a second wind and broke her rival's serve in the 10th game, piling the pressure on Anett who, by game 12 had more or less passed her peak, according to commentators.
The 12th game saw Garbiñe completely dominating her rival, to end the set on 7-5.
Also in the WTA championship event, the Czech Republic's Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková won the doubles, beating Taiwan's Hsie Su-Wei and Germany's Elise Mertens 6-3 6-4.
Garbiñe's track record
Garbiñe's coach, Olympic medallist Conchita Martínez, won Wimbledon when her future pupil was barely nine months old, and no Spanish female would do so again until Garbiñe herself – and the superstar from Barcelona, now 28, ended up being world number one in September 2017, at the same time as Rafael Nadal, meaning Spain was briefly home to the best male and female players on earth at once.
The previous year, 2016, Garbiñe won the French Open at Paris' Roland Garros stadium – a venue Nadal can practically call his second home after winning there 13 times since 2005.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, the native country of her mother, Scarlet Blanco, to a Spanish father – José Antonio Muguruza, from the Basque town of Azcoitia – Garbiñe was six when the family upped sticks and moved to Spain's second-largest city.
She holds joint Spanish and Venezuelan nationality, but for the past five-and-a-half years, has lived in Geneva, Switzerland.
When she plays, current WTA world number five Garbiñe represents Spain, being the country she grew up and went to school in.
She holds 10 WTA singles and five WTA doubles titles, and seven singles and one doubles ITF titles.
SPAIN'S last-minute win against England in the 2024 UEFA Euros comes on the 60th anniversary of the country's first-ever title in the much-followed competition – and has broken numerous records, too.
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