World No. 1 Muguruza first to qualify for WTA Finals Singapore, Latest Tennis News - The New Paper
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World No. 1 Muguruza first to qualify for WTA Finals Singapore

New world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza has become the first singles player to qualify for the 2017 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global next month.

Joining Muguruza in Singapore will be the all-Australian doubles team of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, who are set to make their debut appearance at the season-ending event from Oct 22 to 29.

Muguruza, the reigning Wimbledon champion, will be making her fourth consecutive appearance at the event.

On her singles debut in 2015, she reached the semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwanska.

Last year, the 23-year-old Spaniard bowed out in the group stage.

In the doubles format, she and partner Carla Suarez Navarro fell in their opening match in 2014, before finishing as beaten finalists in 2015.

"Every season, one of my main goals is to qualify for Singapore, as it is proof that you are one of the best eight players of the year," Muguruza said in a press release yesterday.

"To secure my place so early gives me great satisfaction and motivates me to keep working hard as we enter the latter stages of the season.

"I have great memories of the tournament and the city.

"It will be my fourth year in a row there, and I look forward to playing my best tennis."

The 2016 French Open champion's season has been highlighted by two titles, first lifting her second Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon, where she defeated Venus Williams in the final.

She then won her second tournament of 2017 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last month, beating then world No. 1 and No. 2 - Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep respectively - en route to the title.

The news of Barty and Dellacqua's qualification caps a trophy-laden year for the pair, who have reached six finals this year, winning three of them.

The doubles teams of Martina Hingis/Chan Yung-jan and Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina have also qualified for the WTA Finals Singapore.

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