“Thank you,” she mouthed, hands clasped to her chest, as she soaked up the crowd’s applause, turning to gaze wistfully at all four sides of the court. Then, with a final glance back over her shoulder – as much, perhaps, at the past 27 years of her life as her immediate surroundings – she turned on her heel and was gone.

“There’s sadness, there’s happiness, there’s a bit of everything,” said Kontaveit, who is retiring because of a chronic back injury, after her 6-1, 6-2 defeat to the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova.

“It was incredible to have Court 18 full of people, so many people cheering for me.

“Of course, the match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but I was so happy to be able to play in front of so many people, that so many people that love me were able to see me play for the last times in singles.”

Although she remains in the mixed doubles alongside Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, it felt like a fitting farewell for Kontaveit, an understated Estonian who was ranked No 2 in the world this time last year.

For all her success, Kontaveit has never craved the limelight. Even when she was scheduled on Court 6 in the opening round, raising the possibility that she would play the final match of her career on a stage with just a few scattered benches for spectators, her reaction barely ranged beyond mild disappointment.

“I do hope to get a bigger court next time,” she said. “I was not expecting to play on Centre Court or a huge court anyway. It’s their decision and [there’s] nothing I can do about it.”

That kind of humility is one of the qualities that has made Kontaveit a firm favourite in the locker room. First to congratulate her on a career that reached its zenith with a remarkable late-season flourish in 2021, when she won titles in Cleveland, Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca to break into the top eight and qualify for the season-ending WTA finals, was Bouzkova, who embraced her warmly at the net. 

“Congratulations for your incredible career, Anett,” Bouzkova, the 32nd seed, later wrote on Instagram. “You will be missed and we all wish to see you come back.”

Those sentiments were widely echoed. 

“Congratulations on your career and thank you for every memory,” wrote Iga Swiatek, the world No 1.

“Anett, my friend, your joy, your warmth and energy will be missed,” said Ons Jabeur, the sixth seed, in a Twitter post. “Congratulations on an amazing career. Thank you for all the memories. Lots of love.”

Kontaveit, who is studying psychology at Indiana University, said she hoped to remain connected to tennis in her native Estonia, although she has no specific plans at this stage. Given the emotional nature of her final singles match, which ended with both Kontaveit and her mother Ülle in tears, that seems entirely understandable.

Kontaveit’s most notable results came at the 2020 Australian Open, where she was a quarter-finalist, and at the WTA Finals the following year, where she was beaten in the final by Garbiñe Muguruza. However, Kontaveit, who won the last of her six titles in St Petersburg on Valentine’s Day 2022, said her maiden title, which came in s’Hertogenbosch in 2017, would remain her most cherished memory.

“I think nothing beats winning a tournament, so I’d say winning my first WTA tournament,” said Kontaveit.

The Estonian’s retirement comes after a degenerative condition in her lower spine left her unable to train or compete without pain. Unable to sit or stand in the same position for long periods, she is hopeful that her decision to stop will afford her greater comfort in everyday life.

“Now I feel at peace with it, but it was definitely difficult before, especially right before the announcement,” Kontaveit told the WTA. “It was very hard. I was just sad and upset. It’s been my whole life. This is what I’ve done for most of the 27 years that I’ve lived. 

“It was a difficult thing to process. But one day I woke up, and I was feeling happy again. I think time sort of helped me come to terms with it.”

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Three months after offering a bleak assessment of her long-term prospects in the face of a degenerative condition in her lower spine, the 27-year-old said in a social media post that she was no longer able to train or compete at elite level.

“Today I am announcing that I am ending my career as a competitive athlete,” Kontaveit wrote on Instagram. 

“After several doctors’ visits and consultations with my medical team, I have been advised that I have lumbar disc degeneration in my back. 

“This does not allow for full-scale training or continued competition. Therefore, it is impossible to continue at the top level in such a highly competitive field.”

Kontaveit’s statement comes almost exactly a year after she reached a career-high ranking of No 2 in the world, the high-water mark of a career that took flight nine months earlier, when she won the second title of her career in Cleveland. That victory would be the catalyst for a remarkable winning sequence that brought titles in Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca, propelling Kontaveit into the world’s top 10, the first Estonian player ever to achieve that distinction. 

Kontaveit’s late-season surge also earned her a spot at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara, another first for her country, and she went on to reach the final of the year-end showpiece, losing out to Garbiñe Muguruza as she finished the season ranked seventh. 

The following spring brought another significant milestone, Kontaveit edging an epic final against Maria Sakkari to win the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy before reaching the quarter-finals in Stuttgart. With that sequence of results, she extended her run of consecutive indoor victories to 22, a record only bettered by Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in the years since 1989. 

Unlike Graf and Seles, however, Kontaveit was unable to replicate her success at the grand slams, where her best result was a quarter-final finish at the 2020 Australian Open. She spoke of her desire to alter that record but, although she would go on reach three further finals in 2022, the beginning of the end came in October, when back pain forced her to abandon her title defence in Ostrava and call time on her season. Another two-month break followed in February, but there has been no respite, the Estonian winning just three of her 10 matches this year.

“Tennis has given and taught me a lot, and I am very grateful for that,” wrote Kontaveit. “It has been important for me to bring the Estonian flag to the tennis courts and to be able to play in front of my supporters and fans all over the world.  

“I am ready for new challenges after my last effort as a professional tennis player – to enjoy the game and compete as hard as I can at Wimbledon.”

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She may not win it – although few would rule that out now, after her dramatic 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-2 victory over Anett Kontaveit, the second seed – but at the deepest, most visceral level, the tournament is hers. She knows it, her adoring New York public know it, and her opponents have not been allowed to forget it.

Who else gets to walk out to a pre-match video montage? At what other major would a home favourite benefit from Queen Latifah, no less, declaring over a blaring sound system that the opposing player is about to face the queen of “never, ever going down without a fight”, and that “you don’t stand a chance if you see this face”? Kontaveit must have felt she had been thrown to the lions even before the warm-up had begun.

The US Open would surely do well to rethink the timing of its big-screen tributes to Williams. Like Danka Kovinic on Monday, Kontaveit was made to enter the cauldron of Arthur Ashe Stadium – where 29,959 emotionally inflamed spectators lay in wait – before the video rhapsody to the six-time champion was played. Yet convention dictates that the higher-ranked player takes to the court last and Williams, who announced her impending retirement earlier this month, arrived in New York at No 605 on the ladder. Forcing her opponents to wait courtside while the razzamatazz plays out feels inappropriate at best, brazenly partisan at worst. 

Kontaveit handled it all with grace, courage and admirable determination. But as the crowd greeted every Williams success with a wall of enraptured noise, regardless of whether their joy was sparked by a Williams winner or a Kontaveit error, a line was crossed. Williams tacitly acknowledged as much early in the decider, sportingly raising a hand to quieten the clamour as Kontaveit prepared to serve after a close call had gone in the Estonian’s favour, averting a break.  

Amid the unbridled passion and noise that cascaded down from the stands, the combatants staged a contest of rich quality. Both women remained unsparing in their commitment to attack; each stubbornly refused to give ground in the face of setbacks. When Williams smashed down an ace to take the first set, having earlier faltered as she attempted to serve out at 5-4, Kontaveit responded with an irresistible passage of play, storming into a 5-1 lead in the blink of an eye. 

But this US Open belongs to Williams, and down the stretch she was irresistible. She returned from a bathroom break to cruise through her opening service game, wrested Kontaveit’s serve from her with a searing forehand winner, and shrugged off the subsequent loss of her own delivery with some mighty returning to restore her advantage. She would not be caught.

There was a warm exchange between the pair at the net afterwards, and the cordiality extended into the press room, where Kontaveit hailed the performance of the “amazing” Williams even while admitting it was hard to compete in such a febrile atmosphere. Asked if she felt Williams has become bigger than the sport, Kontaveit declined to take the bait, simply acknowledging that the occasion was about her opponent. 

“It was her moment,” said Kontaveit, whose own frequent brilliance was met with stony silence by the otherwise raucous audience. “I was trying to do my own thing. I mean, of course, this is totally about her. I was very aware of that.”

Later, though, once the conversation had switched to Estonian, Kontaveit was overcome with emotion as she responded to an inquiry about the crowd, offering a halting answer before abruptly leaving the room.

“It was something I never experienced before,” she said through a veil of tears. “I don’t think it’s a personal attack against me or anything. I mean, it’s fair. I definitely had no shame losing to Serena… It was very difficult with the crowd.”

As Kontaveit would be the first to acknowledge, none of this is on Williams. The adulation lavished upon the 23-time grand slam champion this week has been earned countless times over in the 27 years since she played her first professional match. From the United States Tennis Association to the fans and the media, there is an overarching desire to give Williams the send-off she deserves (even if she has left the door open for an improbable about turn). Rightly so. Yet it is also important to respect the boundaries of fairness. 

It would be a shame if all the hoopla surrounding Williams, who faces Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic next, tarnished her farewell. Nobody wants to see a palpably decent and respectful young woman like Kontaveit reduced to tears, and while it would be foolhardy to suppose that tens of thousands of baying New Yorkers can be controlled, the timing of video tributes is another matter. 

Throughout her career, Williams’s tennis has always spoken for itself; she does not require a narrator, and needs no introduction.

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A week after she came through qualifying in Budapest to win the first tour-level singles title of her career, Pera, a 27-year-old American ranked 81st in the world, defeated top seed Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Hamburg European Open to claim her second. She has now won a dozen matches in a row, all without dropping a set. 

That the latest of those triumphs came against Kontaveit, who dispatched her in straight sets in the opening round at the All England Club, only underlines the spectacular alteration in Pera’s trajectory over the past two weeks. She left Wimbledon at a low ebb after a fifth successive loss sent her ranking plummeting to 130, her lowest position since October 2017. She will begin the North American hard-court swing at a career-high ranking of 54, and with some talking up her prospects as a dark horse for the US Open after her win over the world No 2.

While that may be stretching a point – Beatriz Haddad Maia compiled an identical unbeaten streak before Wimbledon, only to crash out in the opening round – Pera’s latest victory nonetheless feels like a watershed moment for a player who left her native Croatia at the age of 16 to represent the US. 

Four years ago, Pera defeated Johanna Konta in the second round of the Australian Open. It was quite the upset: Konta, the ninth seed, had reached the semi-finals the previous year, and although Pera was handily beaten by Barbora Strycova in the next round, the win marked her out as a player of note.

Pera subsequently found herself cast as an early-round danger woman, capable of troubling the best on her day but unlikely to be around come the business end of tournaments. She often lived up to that billing – a three-set defeat to Serena Williams two years ago in Lexington was a classic example – but Pera has always had the ability to do more. Now she has acquired the belief to express her gifts more consistently. 

Against Kontaveit, Pera exuded confidence from the outset. Sharp returning from the American earned her an immediate break, and from there she dominated the opening set behind her tricky southpaw serve, landing more than three in four of her first deliveries and winning 84% of the points when she did so. 

Pera’s dominance with ball in hand gave her the freedom to open her shoulders off the ground, and she was increasingly able to impose her big forehand in the baseline exchanges, testing Kontaveit’s rubber-limbed defensive skills to the limit. 

The pattern continued into the second set, where Pera established a 5-2 lead before Kontaveit, bidding for the first clay-court title of her career, clawed back a break as her opponent faltered for the first time. Pera held firm, however, serving out to claim her second clay-court title in as many weeks.

“I expected a good fight and I played well,” said Pera. “I was able to dominate the points and able to win.”

Pera afterwards dedicated the victory to her former coach Kristijan Schneider, who died of cancer in April at the age of 41.

“The tennis community lost a coach, a friend [and a] mentor,” said Pera. “I was lucky enough to be coached by him, and I want to dedicate this trophy to him and to his memory. I hope I can bring at least a little bit of his shine and passion and drive into the world.”

In the men’s draw, top seed Carlos Alcaraz saw off Alex Molcan of Slovakia 7-6 (7-2), 6-1. He will face Lorenzo Musetti in the final after the Italian defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

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Beltz is best known for his work with former world No 1 Angelique Kerber. The 45-year-old oversaw Kerber’s formative years on the tour and later guided her to the Australian and US Open titles. His partnership with Raducanu was less successful, however, lasting just five months before the British teenager decided on a change of direction after struggling with injuries and a succession of early-round defeats. 

With Wimbledon a week away and Kontaveit struggling with illness and waning form, Beltz will need to hit the ground running if his new charge is to live up to her billing as second seed. 

Kontaveit, who was beaten by Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round at the All England Club last summer, has been struggling to shake off the lingering effects of a recent bout of Covid, and will arrive in SW19 without any competitive play on grass after she was forced to pull out of the Eastbourne International, where she was a finalist last year. 

“Unfortunately I won’t be able to come and play in Eastbourne this year,” the 26-year-old announced on Monday. “I still need to recover and take care of my health after my infection to Covid recently. I didn’t feel good on court lately so I prefer not to take any risk and come back when I will be at 100%. Hope to see you all in Eastbourne in 2023.”

Kontaveit rose from 30th in the world to No 2 on Tursunov’s watch, winning four successive titles towards the end of last season before reaching the title round at the WTA Finals, where she was defeated by Garbiñe Muguruza. 

As Kontaveit explained to the Estonian public broadcaster EER earlier this month, however, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made it difficult for the Moscow-born Tursunov to travel this year, forcing her to rethink the collaboration.

“Since he has a Russian passport, it is very difficult for him to get visas at the moment, meaning he can’t accompany me to many tournaments,” said Kontaveit. “I still feel I need a coach who can accompany me and who does not have so many practical issues.

“There was a lack of such security, given the situation. He could not come to America with me in March, and now he had a visa problem in relation to England. The visa process was very complicated for him.”

Tursunov, a former top-20 player who reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2008 and won seven titles on the ATP Tour before retiring in 2017, expressed disappointment over the demise of the partnership.

“I would like to thank Anett for the opportunity, congratulate on a career-high ranking and wish her best of luck onward,” he wrote on Twitter. “Feel proud of the work I put in and a bit sad, but sometimes good things must come to an end.”

Kontaveit, who was also forced to pull out of last week’s grass-court event in Berlin, was upset by Ajla Tomljanovic in the opening round of the French Open in her most recent competitive outing.

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Kontaveit, who edged a three-hour marathon against top seed Maria Sakkari 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 to clinch the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy, has now won 20 indoor matches in succession, a feat last achieved by Justine Henin between 2007 and 2010. Since 1989, the only other players to compile comparable indoor streaks were Jana Novotna, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf. It is quite the roll call of grand slam champions and former world No 1s.

Kontaveit has much to do if she is truly to belong in such company, but she is nonetheless putting together some impressive statistics of her own. This was the Estonian’s fourth successive indoor title – and fifth in all since last August – and it lifts her to a career-high ranking of sixth. The challenge now for the 26-year-old, who suffered a disappointing loss to the Danish teenager Clara Tauson in the second round of the Australian Open, is to reproduce that outstanding form on the game’s grander stages.

“I think I definitely have to write some targets down on paper and just sort of go through what has happened, and what I have yet to achieve,” said Kontaveit, who demonstrated her ability to live with the elite with a run to the title round at last season’s WTA Finals.

“I think there’s so much more that I can do still, and I think that definitely is keeping me motivated.”

Kontaveit needed all the inspiration at her disposal to subdue Sakkari, who came out swinging as she went in pursuit of what would have been only her second WTA title. The Estonian survived an early break point courtesy of the net tape, but edged ahead in the sixth game, smoking a backhand pass before outsteadying Sakkari to claim the first break. She went on to establish a 5-2 lead, but Sakkari refused to be bowed, crafting a stunning reflex volley to create the impetus for an immediate break back.

Sakkari had toiled for over three hours to defeat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the semi-finals, but the Greek remains one of the finest athletes in the women’s game and there was no hint of fatigue as she clawed her way back into the contest. As she slowly grew in stature, so Kontaveit faded, double faulting twice at 5-5 as she went on to finish the set with 23 unforced errors.

An early break in the second stretched Sakkari’s run to seven straight games, but Kontaveit, as she has done so often over the past six months, dug in and found a way. Having missed a set point at 6-5, she claimed the second set with some clutch serving in the tiebreak. She again came from behind to clinch the decider, recovering from 5-2 down as Sakkari floundered. 

“The score didn’t look great in the third set, I was down 5-2, but I just kept telling myself that if she wins this, if she beats me, it’s too good on the day,” said the second-seeded Kontaveit. “I just felt like I had to try everything I could, fight as hard as I could, and just do the best that I can.” 

The worry for Sakkari must be that defeats of this nature are becoming a little too familiar. At Roland Garros last year, the Greek faltered after holding a match point against Barbora Krejcikova in what was her first major semi-final. Sakkari, who works with a psychologist, has acknowledged that there is scope for improvement, and went on to demonstrate her mental fortitude by reaching the US Open semi-finals. Yet she subsequently lost to Kontaveit in the Ostrava final, and was again denied by the Estonian in the last four of the WTA Finals after leading by a break in the decider. Sakkari’s battle against her inner demons promises to be one of the season’s most intriguing subplots.

“I think, you know, thinking of the finish line, and thinking of being just three points away from the trophy, I just actually couldn’t close the match because I got a little bit too emotional and too tight and too stressed,” said Sakkari. “But I guess it’s a learning process and I’m sure next time it will be better.”

A fascinating rivalry has developed between these two good friends, whose mutual warmth was evident in the embrace they shared at the end. Kontaveit’s latest success moves her 7-6 ahead in their personal series, but in truth each has something to learn from the other. It has been almost three years since Sakkari last lifted a trophy, yet Kontaveit endured a four-year lean spell following her first title in Rosmalen and has gone on to become a winning machine. For her part, the Estonian will hope to emulate Sakkari by making deeper runs at the majors. Both, you feel, will get there. 

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Mundanity is anathema at the best of times to Cornet, an ebullient, emotionally complex character who, by her own admission, has spent much of her career chasing the rainbow of perfection. And against Garbiñe Muguruza at the Australian Open, the Frenchwoman did indeed make life interesting, sealing a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the third seed just minutes after the Danish teenager Clara Tauson had bundled out Anett Kontaveit, the high-flying Estonian who Muguruza vanquished to win the WTA Finals barely two months ago.

Plus ça change, as they say in Cornet’s homeland. The women’s game remains as thrillingly unpredictable as ever.

Few players embody that sense of uncertainty quite like Cornet, a player who has struggled to realise the spectacular potential she showed as a teenager, but whose ability and staying power remain undeniable.

Now into her 17th and perhaps final year as a professional, the 31-year-old has appeared in 60 consecutive grand slam tournaments – more than any other active female player, and just two short of the women’s record held by Ai Sugiyama. On the game’s biggest stages, however, consistency of appearance has not always been matched by consistency of performance. For all the mercurial talent that propelled Cornet to the junior French Open title as a 17-year-old, and lifted her to a career-high ranking of 11th in the world two years later, it is a curious footnote to her career that she has never progressed beyond the fourth round of a major. It is a modest return for a player who is, as Muguruza will not need reminding after suffering a second successive defeat at her hands, capable of troubling anyone in the world on her day.

“It’s been a while [that] I haven’t beaten a top-five player in a slam, so it’s a really good feeling,” said Cornet, who memorably shocked top seed Serena Williams in the third round of Wimbledon in 2014. “I really enjoyed it today, which doesn’t mean I will enjoy it tomorrow! That’s why, when the fun is here, you have to take it.  

“There were definitely some tough times during my career, but I think it’s the same for everybody. Like everybody, I wanted to quit tennis many times, because sometimes it’s just too painful to work and not to be rewarded for your work, to have tough losses. Sometimes you lose, for example, with match point. You go back to your hotel room and you go, ‘What’s the point of doing all that?’ 

“This is not an easy job. You’re on the road basically 10 months out of 12, so you never see your family, it’s really hard to have a love life. I mean, all these things around tennis make it complicated. But the love of the game has always been stronger. 

“I think today the key was that, you know, I’m telling myself that I’m playing probably my last year. I’m not sure yet. When I stepped on the court, I was like, ‘You know what, just enjoy the moment, because you don’t know if you’re going to come back.’ I think that’s what made the difference.”

Cornet’s freedom of spirit was apparent from the outset as she adopted a position high on the baseline, taking the ball early and going toe-to-toe with the Spaniard. Muguruza cut a contrastingly anxious figure, her plight epitomised by a woeful start to her opening service game, in which she twice landed groundstrokes halfway up the net and sent a regulation forehand sailing beyond the baseline. Had Cornet converted more than one of the 10 break points she held in the opener, a one-break advantage might quickly have become a rout. As it was, Muguruza fought gallantly but in vain to make up ground, retaining scoreline respectability without ever suggesting she had enough on the day to avert the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Cornet will face Tamara Zidansek, the 29th seed, in the third round.

“It’s a tough day,” said Muguruza, whose preparations for the tournament were thrown into disarray after her team contracted Covid. “I didn’t feel my game at all. My serve wasn’t there. I think my shots weren’t there also. Tactically, I wasn’t making the right decisions. 

“On top of that, she played very well, [a] very solid game. I think she plays better when she’s playing against top players. I’m a little bit surprised about my level – a little disappointed, too.”

Kontaveit, who unexpectedly emerged as a beacon of stability in the women’s game towards the end of last season after claiming titles in Cleveland, Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca to break the top 10 and qualify for the WTA Finals, will know how the Spaniard feels. For all her recent exploits, a quarter-final at Melbourne Park three years ago remains the Estonian’s best showing at a major, and her hopes of improving on that record were in the balance from the moment Tauson drilled a sweetly-struck backhand winner to break in the opening game. It was the opening salvo in a barrage that would leave Kontaveit stunned.

“My weapons were obviously working very well,” said the 39th-ranked Tauson, who smoked 20 winners to Kontaveit’s 15 and made 14 fewer unforced errors. 

“When you play really good, you don’t feel like you’re playing amazing, but everything is just going how you want it. In my mind, that’s just how I want to play every time. I think I played a really, really good match today. I didn’t miss a lot of shots, even though I was going for them on every single shot.”

It was, said the 19-year-old, a victory underpinned by belief, a quality she felt she lacked last year when facing Victoria Azarenka at the French Open and Ashleigh Barty at Flushing Meadows. Her coach, Olivier Jeunehomme, was determined it would not happen again.

“I had a little talk with my coach right before the match, where we talked about [how] I have to go in believing I could win,” said Tauson following the first top-10 win of her career. 

“Last year, I don’t think I really believed that I could beat those players. Now, right before the match, he told me: ‘You have to believe you can win. We’ll see what the result says, but you have to believe it.’ I really did. I think that really helped me a lot.”

Tauson, who won the junior title at Melbourne Park in 2019, will now face former semi-finalist Danielle Collins, who beat her at Roland Garros a couple of years ago. “She’s a good player,” she said of the American 27th seed. “She always goes far in the good tournaments. So we’ll see. I have to play good again, so I hope I can do that.”

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At 28, Muguruza has never had a clearer understanding of herself, her game and what she still wants to achieve as a player. Inspired by the chance to compete for one of the sport’s biggest titles before a Latin American crowd, Muguruza utilised that knowledge to telling effect against Anett Kontaveit, the standout performer over the final stretch of the season, to claim the title at the season-ending showpiece for the first time.

“This just proves once again that if you had it before, you have it during your whole career,” said Muguruza, who will rise to No 3 in the world rankings following her 6-3, 7-5 victory. “I’m just very happy I proved to myself once again I can be the best, I can be the ‘maestra’, like how we say in Spanish. That puts me in a very good position for next year, a good ranking. How can I say? A good energy. It’s just the payoff for such a long year. My team and I worked hard. It pays off. It just shows us that we’re doing [things] the right way.

“I think for the people from the outside, they kind of feel like, ‘Oh, Muguruza is playing well again.’ I mean, it is true that the last couple of years I didn’t play the same way I played before. But I didn’t play bad tennis either. I was just here, there, not going into the deep rounds at grand slams that made the difference. 

“I always felt I had the tennis. I was just not putting the battle together. I always believe. I made finals of a grand slam, reached the rankings, I’m like, ‘I have the tennis, I just have to show it.’ It’s hard, of course. This is just another proof that, I think, I’m actually in the best moment of my career. The experience I have now, the tennis, the way I handle myself, I think it’s much better than before.”

Evidence of these improvements has been plentiful over the past week, just as it has been throughout a season that has brought titles in Dubai – Muguruza’s first tournament win in almost two years – and Chicago, as well as final appearances in Melbourne and Doha. We will never know what might have been had Muguruza not squandered match points against Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open, or had her blistering start to the year not been undermined at a critical juncture by the thigh injury she picked up before the French Open. What we do know is that she has rarely looked more resilient, more capable of taking setbacks in her stride, more comfortable in her own skin. 

As the opening set demonstrated, the passion that is rarely far from the surface has been counterbalanced by a newfound calmness and composure. Having ballooned one drive volley long and netted another to relinquish an early break, Muguruza did not hesitate to employ the tactic again in her next service game. There was no hint of frustration or self-pity when she missed two opportunities to break for a second time, but rather a quiet resolve to create and convert a third, which she duly did. And when Kontaveit powered a forehand wide to gift her a set point at 5-3, Muguruza was ready, stretching wide to hoist up a backhand lob winner so good that even she looked stunned.

“Overall I think it’s the best year for me,” said Muguruza, who lay prone on the baseline, convulsed by tears, at the moment of victory. “I might not have won a grand slam, but I deeply feel like I’ve been happier and more stable, less dramatic, and in general very happy about it.

“I was stressed at the beginning because I wanted to do so well. I had a tough group. I didn’t start well. But I was like, ‘OK, calm down, you wanted to be here, this is your dream, you are here, you still have a chance, so be quiet for a little bit, stop complaining, just keep fighting, hold there, hold to your little chances you might have.’ Me and Conchi[ta Martínez, Muguruza’s coach], we were speaking. We were just seeing all the good and positive things. ‘I know we lost, but we’re here. You have a chance. We’re not leaving from Guadalajara without just giving it all.’ Look where I am now with that mentality, keeping positive. I made it.”

For Kontaveit, it was perhaps one match too far at the end of a season that has elevated her career, her confidence and her standing in the game to a level she could barely have dreamed of when she won the second title of her career in Cleveland, on the eve of the US Open. That victory was the catalyst for a remarkable winning sequence, one that brought tournament victories in Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca and propelled her into the world’s top 10 for the first time, earning her a place in the elite eight-woman field in Guadalajara. It has been some run, and if the enormity of the occasion weighed a little too heavily at the last, inhibiting the free-hitting abandon and sense of conviction that has been Kontaveit’s calling card in recent months, she can nonetheless look to next season with real optimism.

“I think a lot of it was nerves,” said Kontaveit, who will end the year ranked seventh. “I just felt pretty anxious on the court. I never really eased into the match. Didn’t feel fully comfortable. I think it’s definitely a very good experience for me, something that I have a lot to learn from. 

“I think it definitely has given me so much confidence, so much self-belief. I’m looking forward to just taking some time to reflect, to think about what has happened in the last few months. I’ve been playing matches non-stop, so there hasn’t really been any time for that. I’m really looking forward to doing that. I’m excited for the next season. I really want to keep this momentum up, just keep improving on my game.”

Muguruza had punctured Kontaveit’s aura of invincibility with a straight-sets win in the group stage, ending a sequence of a dozen successive victories for the Estonian, and it was perhaps the self-belief derived from that result that sustained the Spaniard as she broke with a stunning forehand winner with Kontaveit serving to level the match at 5-4 in the second set. In truth, the Estonian had been up against it from the outset. It took Kontaveit five minutes to win her opening service game and eight minutes to lose her next one, Muguruza’s power off the ground thwarting her attempts to pull the Spaniard wide and prevent her from dictating the baseline exchanges. 

A well-earned celebration now beckons for Muguruza – “We’re going to have some tequila, have fun,” she promised – before a renewed assault on the game’s biggest prizes. “I’m very motivated to just play those grand slams that are not yet in my place, in my home. I’m still waiting for those ones there. Overall, the big trophies are what motivates me.”

It is a bold statement, the kind of sentiment we are more accustomed to hearing from the likes of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, and coming from a lesser player it might invite ridicule. Coming from Muguruza, it is music to the ears. The Spaniard has finally emerged from the shadow of past achievements. La maestra is back in town. Roll on 2022.

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That the former world No 1 now stands within one victory of claiming her biggest title in four years is testament to her self-belief. Muguruza has overcome every obstacle in her path, making the necessary adjustments to her game, battling back from a set down to defeat Krejcikova, and then bringing Kontaveit’s 12-match winning streak to a juddering halt with an impressive straight-sets win. Her resurgence continued in the semi-finals, where a near-flawless display of power tennis saw her prevail 6-3, 6-3 against Paula Badosa to become the first Spaniard to reach the title round since Aranxta-Sanchez Vicario in 1993, the same year she was born. 

“I feel like I struggled in the first couple of matches,” reflected Muguruza. “One, I didn’t find the way. The other one, I did. All of those circumstances help you to find the way, the way to play here, to find your shots, to serve, to have a game plan. Because I struggled and went through the tough times, it’s like a little progression, you know? 

“Sometimes it’s not like that. Sometimes it just gets worse. I feel like in this time it really helped me. Those first matches, two and a half hours on court fighting, trying to find a way, I think paid off today a little bit in terms of a feeling. I’m like, ‘Okay, I know the altitude by now. I’ve spent many hours on the court.’ 

“I managed to have a serve that works here in Guadalajara. But I think everything got better. Probably the serve, it’s a shot that it’s more tricky in altitude. I feel like in general my game, my shots, my serve, my movement, it’s improving match by match.”

No one will have felt that more keenly than Badosa, whose progress to the last four had been as serene as Muguruza’s was fraught. This match was supposed to mark the changing of the guard, the moment when Badosa – at 24, the younger woman by four years – came of age as the pre-eminent Spanish player. Instead, it was as though we had been transported to a parallel universe, one where it was Muguruza who had swaggered her way into the semi-finals and Badosa who had struggled to find her feet. 

Muguruza was irresistible, breaking early in both sets as she resisted the temptation to go too big too soon, patiently playing her way into rallies with high-percentage shots before launching missiles into the corners whenever Badosa dropped the ball short. It was the same brand of blistering tennis that had propelled her to 19 wins in 23 matches at the start of the year, earning her the Dubai title as well as final appearances in Melbourne and Doha. We will never know what might have been had her season not been undermined by the left thigh injury she sustained in Charleston, as she made the spring transition from hard courts to clay. What is certain is that the Caracas-born Spaniard has drawn huge inspiration from the late decision to stage the WTA Finals in Mexico, where she has revelled in the Latin American vibe.

“[It’s] probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me in my career to play a Masters in Mexico,” said Muguruza, who is guaranteed to end the year an No 3 in the rankings irrespective of the outcome in Wednesday’s final. “It’s a cocktail for me that’s super motivating. Every time I came here to Mexico, I always feel very welcome, very happy. The environment just clicks with me. Having a Masters played [in Mexico] this year, it was like, ‘Okay, Garbiñe, this is your opportunity. You have to give it your all, no matter [if] you win or lose. You have to get out of here and feel like, man, I gave all my energy.’ I think I’m doing that.

“The fact it’s in Latin America, it’s clearly something that I love… I do feel like here it’s different for me. I feel more at home. I feel more the culture. That really matters when you come to the Masters, the last tournament of the year, to have the stadium screaming and full of excited people.”

Badosa has engendered similar levels of passion among the Spanish-speaking crowd, and while the Indian Wells champion was clearly frustrated by her inability to reproduce her outstanding recent form, there is surely plenty more to come from her. Tipped as a potential future No 1, Badosa’s powerful all-court game, sinuous movement and frequently jaw-dropping defensive skills are a match for the best. It augurs well that, having cracked the top-10, she appreciates she will start next season with a target on her back and is already primed to prepare appropriately.

“I like to have quite different things, different games,” said Badosa. “I like to be aggressive, but as well I want to be a good defensive player. I have to work a little bit on everything.  Mentally, I have to make another step because it’s not the same [now]. To start the year 70 like last year, now to start the year eighth, I will have [to deal with] a lot of expectations. Mentally it will be tough, because every player will want to beat me. I’ll have to make another step forward on that.”

She could do worse than take a leaf out of Maria Sakkari’s book. Like Badosa, the Greek has come of age this year, reaching the last four at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows and establishing herself as a card-carrying member of the game’s elite. Sakkari fought tigerishly against Kontaveit, stubbornly refusing to wilt before an early barrage of immaculate shot-making from the Estonian. Once again, however, she was consigned to semi-final agony, Kontaveit earning a crucial break in the eighth game of the decider to set up a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory. It was a Heraclean effort from the Greek, who was inconsolable in defeat.

“I just saw the finish line,” said Sakkari, who was broken to love after taking a 3-2 lead in the decider, and subsequently led 40-0 on serve at 4-3 only for Kontaveit to claim a second break. “Things went downhill. I was very close to taking that chance. I just wasted it. That’s why it hurts so much. It’s not that it was just bad luck, it’s that I threw away another chance. It hurts.”

Kontaveit, meanwhile, has her sights firmly on the possibility of a third successive title – and a fifth since she began her late-season surge in Cleveland, on the eve of the US Open. It has been a remarkable run, one that has seen her win 29 of her past 32 matches and enter the top 10 for the first time. Victory in what will be comfortably the biggest match of her life would elevate her to sixth in the rankings, and while Muguruza will no doubt draw strength from her group-stage win over the Estonian, Kontaveit will approach the challenge with understandable confidence.   

“I feel like the last few months have really showed me that I can play really well, I can beat great players consistently,” said Kontaveit. “I think I sort of have this self-belief now. When I came here, of course, I had nothing to lose. Every time I step on the court, I still think I can win the match.”

That much was evident when the moment of crisis came in the third set against Sakkari. “When I went a break down, 3-2, I just managed to tell myself that if this is the last match of the season, then I might as well enjoy it. I feel like I got some freedom from that and just started playing better, and managed to turn that set around.”

It is a healthy attitude, one that Kontaveit says she will carry into the final, where she promises to heed the lessons from her defeat to Muguruza without dwelling on the negative. 

“It’s a very exciting moment for me,” said the Estonian. “It’s my biggest final so far. I mean, I think I have a lot of self-belief and confidence. I’m really going to enjoy it out there and hopefully play a good match. I mean, I’m ready for whatever comes. I’m ready for the next challenge.

“I definitely have to clean up the unforced errors from the previous match. I think that’s the main thing. Just really fight and give my everything. We’ve played a couple of times in a very short period of time. I’m ready for a tough match. She’s played some great tennis. She’s beaten really good players. So have I. I’m really looking forward to this new challenge. It’s a new match. The previous matches, I think they don’t really matter if you have this new opportunity.”

It promises to be some finale.

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