MADRID, 16 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Hispanic-Venezuelan tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza became the first finalist of the WTA Finals on Tuesday, the event that brings together the eight best of the season in the women’s circuit in Guadalajara (Mexico), after beating her compatriot Paula Badosa in a clear by a double 6-3.
The Spanish semifinal of the ‘teachers’ tournament crowned that of Caracas, much more solid than the Catalan, far from the version it had offered so far, weighed down by its bad day at the serve, which made it always go in tow on the scoreboard.
Now, the double ‘Grand Slam’ champion will try to make history and be the first Spanish to be crowned the best of the year. Almost three decades after Arancha Sánchez-Vicario lost the final of this event in 1993 against the German Steffi Graff, Muguruza will seek the title of ‘teacher’ against the winner of the duel between the Estonian Anett Kontaveit and the Greek Maria Sakkari.
Semifinalist six years ago, the former world number one seemed to feel more comfortable on a stage that seemed to grip a Badosa something more that never found her best tennis as evidenced by the 30 unforced errors, by only 20 winners, which weighed her down as his weak game with the service, one of his best weapons and that his rival knew how to neutralize with his usual aggressiveness.
Muguruza, on the other hand, was more balanced in her tennis and her serve worked better, which allowed her to dominate both sets and take advantage of her breaks. In the second round, she suffered a little more and the champion in Indian Wells had her chances to have extended the match, but she knew how to control the situation supported by her dominance when she played with firsts (26/32).
From the start, the world number five looked stronger in the semifinal. He controlled his unforced errors better and always forced a lot from the rest to Badosa, who lost his serve very early and who had to do his best to save another ‘break’ ball to stay in the game. It was a mirage because Muguruza, without offering any loopholes to the service, ended up breaking it again to close the first set with his tenth ‘winner’.
The public expected the reaction of the number ten in the world, but she could not find her tennis and her rival did not slacken either. A new break forced Badosa to row against the current again, who had his first three and only options to the rest to regain the advantage, but who could not take advantage of any of them.
That cost him his options to come back to the Catalan, who no longer had any more opportunity with the serve against a Muguruza who forgave a clear 0-40 with 4-1 before sentencing his ticket for the final on Wednesday.