GARBINE MUGURUZA beat Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5 Wednesday to become the first Spaniard to win the elite season-ending WTA Finals in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The 28-year-old improved her record playing in Mexico at 14 wins and two losses.

Muguruza won back-to-back titles in Monterrey in northern Mexico in 2018 and 2019.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was a runner-up two times, the last time in 1993.

The former No. 1-ranked Muguruza, who was a semifinalist of the WTA Finals in 2015, also became the oldest champion since Serena Williams won it in 2014 and will finish the season at No. 3 in the rankings, her best performance since 2017.

Muguruza was backed the whole week by a raucous crowd who gathered at Estadio Akron to cheer and clap for her as if she was one of their own.

Despite the loss, Kontaveit, who soared from No. 30 in the rankings into the top 10 in the last few months, is projected to finish at No. 7 in the rankings.

The 25-year-old Estonian finished the season with a 29-4 record in her last 33 matches, including her title run at Ostrava. Prior to that stretch, she had a 19-13 record for the year.

Muguruza took control early in the match with three breaks against an erratic Kontaveit, who played better in the second and got a break in the ninth, but the Spaniard broke the Estonian′s next two serves to win it.

Earlier, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova defeated Hsie Su-wei and Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 to win the WTA Finals doubles title undefeated.

Krejcikova and Siniakova won titles at Roland Garros and Madrid, and the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“It’s really amazing. This week was really good for us. I think we needed to stay aggressive, and we did it,” said Siniakova, who finished the season No. 1 in the doubles rankings. “I’m just really happy that we have the trophy.”

The WTA Finals were played in Guadalajara for this year only, with the event scheduled to return in 2022 to Shenzhen.

(SD-Agencies)