Muguruza content with her season no matter what

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  • Muguruza hoping to repeat her success from last year (Credit: Visual China Group)

    A mixed bag of results and the pressure of having to defend an enormous number of points in the final stretch of the season will have no bearing on how Garbine Muguruza feels about her 2016, the Spaniard insisted ahead of her Wuhan opener on Tuesday.

    Muguruza has won just eight out of the 14 matches she has played since her breakthrough title victory at the French Open last June. And despite her having 2000 points from that grand slam triumph, she is only at No6 in the Road to Singapore leader board (2016 race) and is yet to lock in her spot at the WTA Finals.

    The Spaniard’s only other notable results of the season are two semi-final appearances in Rome and Cincinnati.

    Last year, Muguruza rebounded from a post-Wimbledon slump in Asia, making the final in Wuhan, winning Beijing and reaching the semis in Singapore. She now has 2,275 points to defend over the next two – possibly three if she qualifies to the WTA Finals – tournaments.

    She’s unsure whether the next few weeks will see her repeat her Asian heroics from last season.

    “I don’t know how this year is going to go. I’m the same person, but just in a very different stage,” said the world No3.

    “I mean, last year at this part, after that Wimbledon, I really wanted to feel like I’m going to do everything I can in the last swing so I can finish well. I always have this feeling.

    “This year I want to do everything I can so I can go on holiday happy. I don’t want to have this on the back of my mind.

    “I’m just happy to be back,” added the 22-year-old, who takes on Saturday’s Guangzhou runner-up Jelena Jankovic in the Wuhan second round on Tuesday.

    “I feel nothing can be sad this year after winning a grand slam. No matter what happens for me, it is an incredible year already. So I’m very happy to be able to be back here. Hopefully do it like last year. I’m not going to say better, because it is going to be hard, but just like last year.”

    Muguruza’s last grand slam appearance of the season was a second round loss to world No48 Anastasija Sevastova at the US Open. She said it was a defeat that particularly hurt and defended her negative body language saying it shouldn’t be misinterpreted as indifference.

    “That loss was tough for me. I was sad about that match. That’s a tournament where I like to play and I’m really motivated there, but I played bad,” confessed Muguruza of her exit in New York.

    “I went out there. It was a huge stadium that I like also. But, I don’t know, I was too nervous. I wanted too much to win. I wanted too much.

    “Sometimes I feel like there’s certain days where I look like ‘she doesn’t look like maybe is super happy’, but it’s because I want too much, and it’s actually going the other way.

    “So I think it’s as bad to want it too much than not to want it too much. It was tough for me.

    “But, hey, I had time to practice. That’s a good part. I went home and I worked, and now I feel much better. Let’s see if it’s pay off here.”

    Kerber hung out with some dolphins in Wuhan (Credit: Visual China Group)

    Kerber hung out with some dolphins in Wuhan (Credit: Visual China Group)

    World No1 Angelique Kerber will play her first match since clinching the US Open crown on Tuesday against Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic.

    The German has shown incredible consistency in 2016 that allowed her to unseat Serena Williams, who had been at the top of the rankings for three and a half years.

    Kerber has played 68 matches this season, winning 54 of them, and has made seven finals, triumphing in three of them (Australian Open, Stuttgart and US Open).

    She says she’s ready to tackle the final stretch of the season, even though she could be forgiven if she doesn’t go all out in the next couple of weeks, considering she has already sealed her spot in Singapore.

    “The two weeks at home, that gives me a lot of relaxing and a lot of power again, a lot more motivation. I had a few days’ rest. That was really important for me after the US trip,” said Kerber.

    “Now, of course, the last trip of the year here in Asia, I’m really looking forward. I will try to enjoy everything, try to play my best and let’s see.”

    Venus talks to reporters in Wuhan (Credit: Visual China Group)

    Venus talks to reporters in Wuhan (Credit: Visual China Group)

    Meanwhile, Venus Williams commences her Wuhan title defence today against the feisty Yulia Putintseva in the second round.

    Asked what she hopes to get out of this Asian swing, Williams said Singapore “is not a target” (she’s No13 in the race) and added: “The opportunities are really the big events here. When we come over here, we’re actually playing for something.

    “As an American, it’s a lot harder to get here than if you were a European or Australian for that matter. I’m one of the Americans that comes over. Not a ton of us.

    “We have to work hard to be here. It’s a big commitment. It’s where we want to be this time of year.”

    Fighting for Singapore

    Unlike Williams, fellow American, Madison Keys – also in action today against Caroline Garcia – is dedicating all her efforts to trying to clinch a maiden qualifying berth to Singapore.

    The 21-year-old started the year nursing an elbow injury that was followed by an adductor problem that ended her Australian Open campaign in the fourth round.

    She has posted some incredible results since May though, making the final in Rome, the fourth round at Roland Garros, winning Birmingham, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, the final in Montreal, the semis at the Rio Olympics and the fourth round at the US Open.

    Keys is now at No9 in the race just one point behind Carla Suarez Navarro.

    “It was funny because at the beginning of the year I definitely was not in the race. It wasn’t really in my mind. Then as I started doing a little bit better, I was slowing moving up the rankings a little bit,” Keys told reporters on Sunday.

    “No, now it’s definitely something I want to qualify for, Singapore, and I’m going to do everything I can to. It would mean the world to me to be able to qualify.”

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