"I started to play on a chair [during the recovery] and then it was a little bit more until I was like normal," she said. "I didn't expect to win a lot of matches in the second tournament of the year but I just know that I'd worked so hard before.
"I was like a big bull. At home I was like, if I go to the tournament I'm going to fight so much. So that's what I did."
Muguruza made the second round in her debut Australian Open campaign last year. She heads to Melbourne Park in irresistible form, a quarter-final loss to Venus Williams in Auckland preceding her Hobart run.
Muguruza joins Germany's Mona Barthel, who won in 2012, as the only qualifiers to win the tournament. She knocked second seed and Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens out on the way to her first WTA final.
The right-hander didn't drop a set from the qualifiers to the final as she tuned up for a first-round meeting with Estonian 24th seed Kaia Kanepi at the Australian Open. She swept aside compatriot Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-0 6-1 in the semifinals to set up her meeting with 31-year-old Zakopalova. The Czech had beaten top seed Sam Stosur 6-3 6-2 in the semis and will meet the Australian again in round one of the Open.
The pair traded breaks in the first before Muguruza's power rose to the fore. Leading 5-4, she grabbed the crucial break in the 10th game when Zakopalova netted on Muguruza's first set point. The Czech's game looked to be falling apart when she lost her opening service game in the second set and the writing was on the wall when Muguruza broke again to lead 4-0.
Meanwhile, Australian Open dark horse Tsvetana Pironkova admitted she almost gave tennis away after the unfancied Bulgarian cliched her fairytale maiden WTA title at the Sydney International on Friday night, blasting past German fifth seed Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-4.
It was a long-awaited first title for the 27-year-old after eight years and more than 200 tournaments as a professional. Having enduring a horror season in 2013, when she suffered 13 first-round losses to slip to 107 in the world, she admits she considered throwing it all away.
"I would be lying if I say that I haven't, especially having such bad results last year. It crossed my mind a few times," she conceded. "But, you know, after all, this is something that I've chased all my life. "One bad season, I said to myself 'Okay, it sucks, but you have to keep pushing. You have to go forward. Just take all your chances and do what you have to do, and then we'll see what happens.' So that's what I did."
- AAP
