Guadalajara, Jalisco, November 17 2021.- Garbiñe Muguruza looks to put a finishing touch her incredible 2021 season; the Spaniard is seeking to lift the Billie Jean King trophy of the AKRON WTA Finals.
Her rival for tonight is Anett Kontaveit, who has reached her third consecutive final with a 12-match winning streak that was just snapped this week. Their head-to-head is 3-2 in clashes.
This is the seventh time, since 2003, that two players from the same group reach the final. On four of the six previous six occasions, the loser in the group got revenge in the decisive duel.
Whoever the champion is will be the first player from her country to lift the title of this tournament. “It will be a difficult final, but I am going to focus on my game and not on what she can do. I think if I do that, I will have more opportunities,” said Muguruza.
In her fourth appearance in this tournament, Garbiñe already surpassed her best performance of 2015, when in her debut, she reached the semifinals. She also qualified in 2016 and 2017, with a 1-2 record on those occasions. Muguruza is comfortable playing on Mexican soil, where she is 13-2 (including matches in this tournament). In her most recent visit, she lifted the tournament title in Monterrey in 2018 and 2019.
Kontaveit arrives as the player with the most wins of the year, with 48, in addition to going 29-3 in their last eight tournaments of the season She is the player who won the most titles this year out of all eight players who participated in the event. She won the tournaments in Cluj- Napoca, Moscow, Ostrava and Cleveland.
“This is a very exciting time for me. I think it is the greatest end of my career. I have a lot of self-confidence and I’m really going to enjoy it. I’m ready for what’s to come and for the next challenge. I hope to play a good game,” said Kontaveit.
The road to the final was very different for both. Anett was the first to reach the semifinals after two straight sets victories over Barbora Krejcikova and Karolina Pliskova. Garbiñe instead bounced back from a bad start, after losing in her opening match against Pliskova but then had wins over Krejcikova and Kontaveit.
The two are ready to give it their all in Guadalajara and go for the $680,000 award for the winner.