Return Winners: The 2014 Hobart final

Garbine Muguruza faced Klara Zakopalova in the final of one of the last tournaments before the 2014 Australian Open.

After a rapid start to her career, Garbine Muguruza hit a roadblock in the summer of 2013 when an ankle surgery forced her to cut her season short.

Entering 2014 ranked No. 63 in the world, the 20-year-old reached the quarterfinals in Auckland, New Zealand, in her first tournament back. Continuing her preparation for the Australian Open, the Spaniard then entered the Hobart International. Seeded second in the qualifying round, she advanced to the main draw and then proceeded to reach her first career final without the loss of a set.

On the top half of the draw, the Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova was also playing solid tennis. The seventh seed made it through to the 13th championship bout of her career by taking all of her matches in straight sets, which included a win over the top seed Samantha Stosur in the semifinals.

In their first meeting back in 2012, Zakapalova eked out a third-set tiebreak win against Muguruza in the opening round in Seoul. Here, both of them entered the match with their confidence at a high, and exchanged breaks early on. Muguruza eventually broke again at the most crucial time, when she was up 5-4 to clinch the opener.

After easing through her first service game, Muguruza then broke Zakapalova to take a 2-0 lead. The pattern repeated itself over the course of the next two games with the Spaniard going up 4-0. Zakapalova showed some signs of resistance, fighting off two match points when Muguruza was up 5-0, but double-faulted on the third to give her young opponent the first title of her career.

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Muguruza became the second qualifier to win the tournament after Mona Barthel in 2012.

5

Zakopalova lost her fifth final in a row dating back to 2005. Her overall record in title matches fell to 2-11.

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The last time a Spanish woman won a tournament in January was 2006, when Anabel Medina Garrigues triumphed in Canberra. The Spanish team did win the Hopman Cup—a coed team event—in 2013.

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