2018 WTA Preview: No. 2, Garbine Muguruza

As a preview of 2018, Baseline is taking a look at all the Top 10 finishers from the ATP and WTA. **

See No. 3 here.

2

Garbine Muguruza enjoyed her career-best year in 2017, complete with her first stint at No. 1, her second Grand Slam at Wimbledon, the WTA Player of the Year award and the 2017 ITF Women's World Champion. Despite losing her top ranking to Simona Halep by year's end, the 24-year-old Spaniard should be nothing but proud.

Moment of the Year

While Muguruza also won a big title in Cincinnati, her Wimbledon victory was unforgettable. To do it, Muguruza took out Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams. She lost just one set across two weeks at the All England Club.

Hot Shot of the Year

To win Cincinnati for the first time, Muguruza needed to beat both Karolina Pliskova (then No. 1) and Simona Halep (then No. 2). Her 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Halep in the final was a picture-perfect performance from Muguruza's racquet from start to finish:

Outlook for 2018

Of the players currently inside the Top 10, it's Muguruza who has the best shot at adding a Grand Slam to her haul of two in 2018. She's done it on two surfaces (clay at the French Open in 2016 and grass at Wimbledon in 2017), and has shown she can play her best tennis on hard courts. Muguruza should win another Slam in 2018, and maybe even two.

Friday, December 29: Novak Djokovic begins his comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi against either Roberto Bautista Agut or Andrey Rublev.

Not before 10:00 a.m. ET LIVE on Tennis Channel Plus. GET PLUS NOW at tnns.ch/TCPlus

Saturday, December 30: Roger Federer looks to continue his remarkable resurgence at the Hopman Cup in Perth in singles and mixed doubles competition.

4:30 a.m ET LIVE on Tennis Channel Plus. GET PLUS NOW at tnns.ch/TCPlus

Saturday, December 30: Serena Williams returns at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, in her first match since the birth of her first child, against the 2017 French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko.

8:00 a.m ET LIVE on Tennis Channel. Additional airings at 2:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET.