With her win on Thursday in Beijing, Garbine Muguruza qualified for the WTA Finals in Singapore. She says that after she lost early at the U.S. Open, she needed to mentally improve.
“Well, the U.S. Open Series was a little bit like, I need to start from zero again. It was tough,” she said. “But I prepare much better this Asia season, more than the U.S. Open season. I learn a lot from that U.S. tournaments because I think, mentally, I was not as ready as I am now. So I worked really hard to prepare these ones. I think I'm doing what I work on, so it's good.”
After the Spaniard reached the final of Wimbledon, she won just one match during the hard-court summer season. She lost in the first round of Toronto and Cincinnati, and then fell to Johanna Konta in the second round in New York.
In Asia though, she began to turn it around. After losing to Belinda Bencic in the second round of Tokyo, she went to Wuhan and beat Sloane Stephens, Ana Ivanovic and Angelique Kerber to reach the final, where she retired against Venus Williams with an ankle injury.
The world No. 5 reached the quarterfinals in Beijing on her 22nd birthday with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Muguruza hired Sam Sumyk after the U.S. Open. Sumyk stopped working with Victoria Azarenka in February, and was coaching Eugenie Bouchard before the two parted ways after Wimbledon. Muguruza has said that she is “very happy with Sam.” They have yet to decide if they will continue working together in 2016.
She added that she was very emotional after qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time. Only eight players qualify for the tournament. Muguruza could also get qualify for doubles, with her friend Carla Suarez Navarro.
“I think it's one of the goals in tennis,” she said. “There are bigger goals, but it's a really big one."