Garbiñe Muguruza

Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡarˈβiɲe muɣuˈɾuθa], Basque pronunciation: [ɡarˈβiɲe muˈɣuɾuˌs̻a]; born 8 October 1993 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player who represents Spain in tennis competitions and turned professional in 2012. She has won three singles titles, most notably at the 2016 French Open where she beat world No. 1 Serena Williams in the final. By virtue of winning her first Grand Slam title in Paris, Muguruza became just the second player of either gender born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title after Petra Kvitová first did so at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. She achieved her career-high world ranking of No. 2 after the French Open.
Equipped with powerful groundstrokes and an aggressive game style, Muguruza first came into prominence by reaching the fourth round of the 2014 Australian Open, where she scored an upset over Caroline Wozniacki en route. She then defeated Serena Williams in the second round of the French Open that same year, beating the world No. 1 in straight sets en route to the quarterfinals. In 2015, she won the China Open and reached her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. She also qualified for her first WTA Finals in 2015, scoring a perfect winning record in the round-robin stage before falling out in the semifinals to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska.
Muguruza has been successful in doubles, winning five titles, finishing runner-up at the 2015 WTA Finals and reaching the 2014 French Open semifinals. She achieved those results with her compatriot, Carla Suárez Navarro.
She is currently ranked No. 7 in singles and No. 30 in doubles.

Muguruza was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1993 to a Spanish-Basque father, José Antonio Muguruza from Eibar, Gipuzkoa, and a Venezuelan mother, Scarlet Blanco, and has two elder brothers named Asier and Igor. She has dual Venezuelan-Spanish nationality. She began playing tennis at the age of three and, after moving to Spain with her family in 1999 when she was six years old, Muguruza trained at the Bruguera Tennis Academy near Barcelona. Her tennis idol is Serena Williams.

2012–2013: Start of career

Muguruza was given a wildcard at the 2012 Miami Open for her first WTA main draw appearance. There, she upset former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva and former world No. 10 Flavia Pennetta in the second and third rounds, before losing to the eventual champion, Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets.

At the 2013 Indian Wells Masters, Muguruza made it through two rounds of qualifying and then made her way to the fourth round of the main draw, where she fell to Angelique Kerber. She was then awarded a main draw wildcard into the Premier Mandatory event in Miami for the second consecutive year, where she advanced to the fourth round, recording wins over Kateřina Siniaková, twenty-third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki en route before losing to the No. 5 seed, Li Na.

After Wimbledon in 2013, Muguruza underwent right ankle surgery and missed the rest of the season. She continued to train by hitting groundstrokes sitting down. She ended the year as the World No. 63 in singles and World No. 153 in doubles.

2014: First WTA singles title and first Grand Slam quarterfinal

Muguruza began the 2014 season with a quarterfinal appearance at the Auckland Open, where she lost to former world No. 1 and eventual runner-up, Venus Williams. The following week, Muguruza qualified and eventually won her first WTA singles title at the Hobart International by defeating Klára Zakopalová in the final in straight sets.

At the Australian Open, Muguruza recovered from a set down to defeat tenth seed Caroline Wozniacki in three sets to reach the fourth round for the first time where she lost in straight sets to the fifth seed, Agnieszka Radwańska. She and Arantxa Parra Santonja also reached the second round of the doubles event where they lost in straight sets to the eighth seeds, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.

After a three-set defeat to Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round of the Thailand Open, Muguruza reached her second singles final of the year at the 2014 Brasil Tennis Cup, where she lost in three sets to Klára Zakopalová despite having led by a set and 5–2. Muguruza then lost in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open after receiving opening round byes, but did reach the quarterfinals of the latter event in doubles where she and her partner, Carla Suárez Navarro lost in three sets to the eighth seeds, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.

Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro reached the final of the Madrid Open, won the Stanford Classic and later qualified for the year-ending WTA Finals.

Muguruza recovered from her first round defeat at the 2014 Monterrey Open by reaching the semi-finals of the Marrakech Grand Prix where she lost to the eventual champion, María Teresa Torró Flor in straight sets. However, she and Romina Oprandi managed to win the doubles event by defeating Katarzyna Piter and Maryna Zanevska in the final in three sets. At the Madrid Open, Muguruza lost in the second round to former US Open champion, Samantha Stosur but reached the final of the doubles event with Carla Suárez Navarro where they lost in straight sets to the second seeded Italians, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

After a second round defeat to former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone at the Italian Open, Muguruza advanced to her first major quarterfinal at the French Open, having handed the world No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams her worst lost in a Grand Slam tournament, losing only four games in the second round, before losing to the eventual champion, Maria Sharapova in three sets. Muguruza also reached the semi-finals of the doubles event with Suárez Navarro, where the pair lost in three sets to the top seeds and eventual champions, Peng Shuai and Su-Wei Hsieh. As a result of her strong performances at the event, Muguruza achieved career high singles and doubles rankings of world No. 27 and world No. 36 respectively.

Muguruza began her grass court season at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships where she reached the quarterfinals before losing to American qualifier Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets after leading 5–2 in the opening set. At the Wimbledon Championships, Muguruza was seeded twenty-seventh but was upset by Vandeweghe in the first round in three sets. Seeded sixteenth in the doubles event with Carla Suárez Navarro, Muguruza and her partner defeated Ajla Tomljanović and Christina McHale and Monica Niculescu and Klára Koukalová to reach the third round where they lost in straight sets to Andrea Petkovic and Magdaléna Rybáriková.

Muguruza began the North American hard court season at the Stanford Classic. She defeated sixth seed and defending champion, Dominika Cibulková in three sets and unseeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchová to reach the quarterfinals where she lost in straight sets to the third seed, Angelique Kerber. Seeded third in the doubles event with Carla Suárez Navarro, the pair defeated Eva Hrdinová and Andreja Klepač; Caroline Garcia and Zhang Shuai and the second seeds, Anastasia Rodionova and Alla Kudryavtseva to reach the final where they defeated Paula Kania and Kateřina Siniaková in three sets to win the title. At the following week's Canadian Open, Muguruza overcame Canadian qualifier Stéphanie Dubois in the first round before falling in three sets to fourth seed, Maria Sharapova. In the doubles event, Muguruza and Suárez Navarro progressed to the second round where they lost to the second seeds, Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai. At the Cincinnati Masters, Muguruza lost in the first round to German qualifier Annika Beck but reached the quarterfinals in doubles where she and Suárez Navarro lost to Kimiko Date-Krumm and Andrea Hlaváčková in straight sets. At the Connecticut Open, Muguruza upset seventh seed Sara Errani before defeating Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai to reach the quarterfinals where she lost in three sets to unseeded Italian, Camila Giorgi. She and Suárez Navarro also lost to Marina Erakovic and Arantxa Parra Santonja in the first round of the doubles event. Muguruza's next event was the US Open, where she competed as the twenty-fifth seed. However, she was upset by resurgent qualifier, Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the first round in straight sets. She and Suarez Navarro also reached the third round of the doubles event, defeating Alizé Cornet and Kirsten Flipkens and Marina Erakovic and Arantxa Parra Santonja en route before losing to the unseeded Williams sisters.

Garbiñe Muguruza at the Toray Pan Pacific Open 2014 where she was a doubles finalist

Muguruza began the Asian swing by competing at the Pan Pacific Open. She defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, fourth seed Jelena Janković and Casey Dellacqua en route to the semi-finals where she fell in three sets to the second seed and eventual runner-up, Caroline Wozniacki. Muguruza also reached the final of the doubles event with Carla Suárez Navarro, defeating Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Šafářová; Jarmila Gajdošová and Arina Rodionova and the second seeds, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears en route before losing to the top seeds, Cara Black and Sania Mirza in straight sets. Muguruza next competed at the inaugural edition of the Wuhan Open, where she reached the third round of the singles, defeating María Teresa Torró Flor and world No. 2 Simona Halep en route and the second round of the doubles with Suárez Navarro after defeating Torró Flor and Sílvia Soler Espinosa in the first round but was ultimately forced to withdraw from the event due to gastritis. At the following week's China Open, Muguruza suffered a three set first round loss to Ekaterina Makarova but reached the quarterfinals of the doubles event with Suárez Navarro.

Muguruza's final event of the year was the season ending WTA Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria. Despite going undefeated in the round robin stage with wins over top seed, Ekaterina Makarova, third seed Flavia Pennetta and sixth seed Alizé Cornet Muguruza fell to the eventual champion, Andrea Petkovic in the semi-finals in straight sets. Muguruza finished the year ranked at career high rankings of world No. 21 in singles and world No. 16 in doubles.

2015: First Grand Slam final and first Premier Mandatory title

Muguruza reached her second major quarterfinal at the 2015 French Open.

Muguruza's first event of the year was to be the Brisbane International but she was forced to withdraw from the event due to an ankle injury. The following week, Muguruza chose not to defend her title at the Hobart International and competed at the Sydney International instead, where she reached the quarterfinals, defeating Agnieszka Radwańska for the first time in her career en route. At the Australian Open, she progressed to the fourth round for the second consecutive year with wins over Marina Erakovic, Daniela Hantuchová and Timea Bacsinszky before falling to the eventual champion, Serena Williams in three sets.

Muguruza won both of her singles rubbers in the 2015 Fed Cup World Group II, defeating Irina-Camelia Begu and world No. 3 Simona Halep but Spain lost the tie 3–2 after Muguruza and her compatriot, Anabel Medina Garrigues lost the deciding doubles rubber. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Muguruza reached her first WTA Premier 5 semi-final in singles, defeating qualifier Jarmila Gajdošová, twelfth seed Jelena Janković, fifth seed Agnieszka Radwańska and thirteenth seed and doubles partner Carla Suárez Navarro before falling to the seventeenth seed and eventual runner-up, Karolína Plíšková in three sets. She also reached the final of the doubles with Suárez Navarro. The following week, Muguruza retired from her first round match against Suárez Navarro at the Qatar Open while trailing 6–5 in the first set.

In March, Muguruza lost to Ka. Plíšková in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters after a second round win over American wildcard Irina Falconi. Despite this, she rose to a career high singles ranking of world No. 19 after the event. A fortnight later, Muguruza reached the third round of the Miami Open after defeating qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva but lost to the eleventh seed Sara Errani after winning the first set.

Muguruza reached the second round of the three clay court events that she competed in leading into the French Open. She lost to second seed Simona Halep in Stuttgart, Kristina Mladenovic in Marrakech and the eventual finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova in Madrid. Muguruza and Suárez Navarro also reached the doubles final of the latter for the second consecutive year but the pair lost in three sets to Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova. Despite failing to win back-to-back matches since February, Muguruza reached her second consecutive French Open quarterfinal, defeating Angelique Kerber and Flavia Pennetta en route, before losing to the eventual runner-up, Lucie Šafářová.

Muguruza made a poor start to the grass court season, losing in the first round of the Birmingham Classic and the third round of the Eastbourne International after a first round bye. However, she and Suárez Navarro won their first grass court doubles title in Birmingham, defeating Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in straight sets in the final. At the Wimbledon Championships, Muguruza defeated 10th seed Kerber in the third round, 5th seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round, 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky in the quarterfinals and 13th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the semi-finals to advance to her maiden Grand Slam final. She played against world No. 1 Serena Williams for the title, but lost in straight sets. After the tournament, Muguruza entered the Top 10 for the first time, moving up to world No. 9 in the WTA Rankings.

During the US Open series, Muguruza did not enjoy much success, dropping her opening matches in Toronto and Cincinnati to qualifiers Lesia Tsurenko and Yaroslava Shvedova respectively. At the US Open, she recorded her first win at the tournament by defeating German Carina Witthoeft in the first round. However, she fell short to Johanna Konta in the following round in three sets, the match was a total time of 3 hours and 23 minutes, the longest women's singles match in that tournament's history since the introduction of tiebreaker in 1970.

Muguruza kicked off the Asian swing at the Pan Pacific Open where she successfully advanced to the last eight after defeating Barbora Strýcová before losing to eventual finalist Belinda Bencic in straight sets. At the Wuhan Open, Muguruza successfully cruised into her second straight quarterfinal at the event after dispatching Sloane Stephens and Ana Ivanovic. She then went on to defeat the likes of Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Kerber to reach the final where she faced Venus Williams but was forced to retire in the second set with an ankle injury. Muguruza was able to crack the Top 5 for the first time in her career after the tournament's conclusion. At the China Open, Muguruza breezed by Irina Falconi before going the distance against Mirjana Lučić-Baroni to advance to the quarterfinals. With the win, Muguruza qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time. She will be the first Spaniard to compete at the year-end championships since Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 2001. She then beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Radwańska to advance to her maiden Premier Mandatory final. With her semifinal win over Radwańska, Muguruza cracked the Top 4 rankings where she reached a career high of world No. 4. She went on to defeat Bacsinszky in straight sets to claim her first Premier Mandatory title and her biggest title of her career.

Muguruza then traveled to Singapore for the WTA Finals, where she went undefeated in the round robin play; beating Petra Kvitová, Angelique Kerber, and Lucie Šafářová. She then lost to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. Muguruza also competed in doubles in Singapore, where she and her compatriot Carla Suárez Navarro reached the final. However, they lost to the number one seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.

2016: French Open champion, world No. 2, inconsistencies

Muguruza holds her trophy after winning the 2016 French Open

Muguruza started her year at Brisbane International, when she already had to retire in her first match of the tournament due to plantar fasciitis. Her next tournament was the Australian Open, where she ensured a spot in the third round with straight set wins over Anett Kontaveit and Kirsten Flipkens, but fell to Barbora Strycová. At the Fed Cup, Muguruza helped in Spain's tie against Serbia with wins over Ivana Jorovic and Jelena Jankovic.

At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Muguruza suffered another early loss as she fell to eventual semifinalist Elina Svitolina. Her next tournament was the Qatar Open, where she reached first quarterfinal of the year, defeating Nao Hibino and Timea Babos, but lost then to Andrea Petkovic in three sets. Next she played in Indian Wells Open, where she lost in her opening match against Christina McHale after receiving first round bye. At the Miami Open, she was close to be defeated in the opening match against Dominika Cibulkova but survived in the final set. She reached the fourth round but lost to the Indian Wells Champion Victoria Azarenka in two tiebreakers.

She kicked off the clay court season by participating the Fed Cup against Italy. She scored wins against Francesca Schiavone and No. 7 Roberta Vinci to help Spain enter the World Group next year. She then played in Stuttgart Open. She reached her second quarterfinals of the season where she lost to Petra Kvitová. At the Madrid Open, she lost in the second round against Irina-Camelia Begu, despite serving for the match. She then went on to reach her first WTA semifinals of the season in Rome, after defeating top ten opponent Timea Bacsinszky in quarterfinals, but lost to Madison Keys in straight sets.

At the French Open, Muguruza unexpectedly turned her season around by going on to capture her first Grand Slam title. She lost the first set against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in her first round match but won in three sets. After that she easily reached her second Grand Slam final without losing a set in the next five matches, including wins over former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, surprise quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers, and former runner-up Sam Stosur in the semifinals. In the final, she faced world No. 1 Serena Williams in a rematch of the previous year's Wimbledon final, and won in straight sets for her maiden major title. She marked 14 straight sets won after losing the first she played. With the title she rose to a career high No. 2 in the WTA rankings of 6 June, 2016. She is also the first Spanish female player to win a Grand Slam title since Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1998.

Muguruza started off the grass season by playing in her home tournament the Mallorca Open, where she was the No. 1 seed. However, she suffered a first-round exit to former Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets, marking the third tournament of the year where she lost in her first match played and her second consecutive loss to Flipkens on grass. Muguruza returned to grass for Wimbledon as the second favorite with the chance to usurp the top ranking from Williams while being heralded as the leader of the next generation, following Williams' recent slump in tournament finals. Though Muguruza won her opening match against Camila Giorgi in a high quality display, she was quickly upset by Jana Cepelova in the second round. Unable to defend her finalist points from the previous year, Muguruza regressed to world No. 3 at the end of the tournament. At the Rio Olympic Games, Muguruza arrived as one of the favorite players to win in the women's singles tennis event. She defeated Andreea Mitu of Romania and Nao Hibino of Japan to progress to the third round. However, she was defeated comprehensively by the eventual Gold medalist Mónica Puig of Puerto Rico.

Muguruza did not have much success during the US Open series, either. At the US Open, she suffered another second-round loss, this time to Anastasija Sevastova. She did not fare well during the Asian Swing, with early round losses at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, the Wuhan Open in Wuhan, and the China Open in Beijing. The loss in Beijing was significant, because Muguruza was the defending champion, and she therefore dropped in ranking after the tournament. However, she still qualified for the WTA Finals. Muguruza was defeated in the round robin stage, her only win coming from a three-set match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Spaniard ended the season ranked no. 7.

2017

Muguruza started the season at the Brisbane International, being the no. 4 seed. She made a run to the quarterfinals after three-set wins over Sam Stosur and Daria Kasatkina, and a straight sets win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then retired in the first set of her semifinal match against Alizé Cornet due to injury. At the Australian Open, Muguruza beat Marina Erakovic, Samantha Crawford, Anastasija Sevastova and Sorana Cîrstea en route to her first ever quarterfinal at the tournament. She then lost to Coco Vandeweghe.

Muguruza's trademark are her flat, powerful groundstrokes off of both wings that allow her to take time away from her opponents and dictate baseline rallies. She also possesses a powerful serve that enables her to get cheap points during service games, and it is capable of reaching speeds of up to 113 mph. Fellow tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska describes Muguruza's playing style as being "very explosive, especially from every shot. So forehand, backhand, serve, return, everything is coming to you so fast."

Her ability to move and slide effectively on clay also leaves her noted for her clay-court prowess, having reached three consecutive quarter-finals at Roland Garros from 2014 to 2016. Muguruza herself has claimed that "clay is [her] territory", as she feels most comfortable on the surface. However, as a result of her high-risk game style, Muguruza's inconsistency is also well discussed in the tennis community. Her game can lend itself to several unforced errors and double faults in any given match, and she often loses matches to players ranked several places below her. Under new coach Sam Sumyk, Muguruza has attempted to finish more points off at the net, which has seen mixed results.

Muguruza was named the ambassador for Mazda Spain in June 2014 and for BBVA bank in December 2014. Her other endorsement partners are Adidas, Babolat, Rolex and Maui Jim. In June 2016, she was named the 14th most marketable athlete by SportsPro.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2015	Wimbledon	Grass	Serena Williams	4–6, 4–6
Winner	2016	French Open	Clay	Serena Williams	7–5, 6–4

Singles

Doubles

This table is current through the 2016 US Open.