Muguruza is WTA’s Player of the Year

Garbine Muguruza 

London (Reuters): Spain’s Garbine Muguruza has been named the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) Player of the Year after reaching number one in the rankings and winning Wimbledon.

Muguruza is only the second Spanish woman after Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to reach number one and by claiming the Wimbledon title became the first player to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in major finals, having beaten Serena to win the 2016 French Open.

”Becoming the WTA number one in the world is a dream come true,“ Muguruza told the WTA’s website. ”Every birthday wish was always the same as I blew out the candles -- to become the best.

“There is a lot of work behind this achievement and a lot of love and passion for this sport. There’s also a lot of hard moments along with the great moments.”

Muguruza is competing at the WTA Finals in Singapore next week.

Swiss Martina Hingis and Taiwan’s Chan Yung-Jan were voted the WTA’s doubles duo of the year after winning nine titles including the U.S. Open.

Muguruza keen to press on after seeing off Ostapenko

Singapore (Reuters): Garbine Muguruza made a winning start to her third consecutive appearance at the WTA Finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko on Sunday but the Spaniard will continue to push herself through the group stage knowing anything can happen.

At her first appearance in Singapore, the world number two won all three round-robin matches before losing a tight semi-final to an inspired Agnieszka Radwanska, while last year she was eliminated early after losing two of her three ties.

On both occasions, the eventual champion (Radwanska in 2015 and Dominika Cibulkova last year) sneaked into the knockout stage with losing 1-2 records in pool play.

“Well, I think it’s very important to start with a win,” the Wimbledon champion told reporters.

“What I learned from the past is that every game counts, every set, because at the end only two (players per group) are going to pass. And previous winners had lost twice and they have won, which is incredible,” she added.

“I take it as a final, honestly, every point, every game, every set.”