Garcia came from behind to see off Ashleigh Barty in Wuhan but instead of resting on her laurels, she flew straight to Beijing winning through there to set up a tie with Simona Halep.

As a result of this run, she went all the way to World No.4 and looks back on fondness of these runs.

“I played some good tennis over the year and these were the last tournaments of the year. I wanted to do the best I could and to do finish the year and see exactly what I could improve at the end of the year. My mindset was to give everything I had and see where I could improve,” she said in an interview for the My Performance 360 series, presented by SAP.

“I knew I had to go over and above my limits physically; I was very proud to do it. It’s a great memory for me.”

On facing Halep, who had just become World Number One - the wins prior had given her massive confidence: “I was definitely the underdog,” she said. “I was playing the brand new No.1 in the world. I couldn’t dream of a better opponent. It was a very good test for me after all these matches.

“When you get a lot of matches and you get a lot of wins; your movement gets better and you hit the ball very cleanly; in this match that’s exactly what happened. It was what I needed against her. She’s very tough to move. “

“It’s nice to see these highlights. Sometimes when it is positive and you keep going in your right direction, things can help you out.

“Sometimes you have to go through difficult times and you don’t know if the work you do is going to pay off. When I had the trophy in my hands; I thought: ‘Ok, this was definitely worth it. I know why I did all this and why I want more.’”