France’s Caroline Garcia scored the most important victory of her profession with a straight-sets defeat of Aryna Sabalenka to win the season-ending WTA Finals on Monday.
Garcia relied on an outstanding service sport to overpower her Belarusian opponent 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 at Fort Worth, Texas.
The 29-year-old from Lyon is just the second French participant to win the WTA title after Amelie Mauresmo in 2005.
“It’s definitely a lot of giant happiness,” Garcia stated after a win that can see her pocket $1.57 million in prize cash and 1,375 rankings factors.
“A crazy final, a lot of intensity on every point. Just really proud of the work we did throughout the year. It was a great match – I really went for it. I’m really happy to win my biggest title.”
With each sixth-seeded Garcia and seventh-seeded Sabalenka serving superbly all through, Monday’s closing was settled by the best of margins.
Garcia seized the initiative within the first set tie-break after each girls had held to get it 6-6.
Remarkably, neither participant conceded a break level throughout a hard-fought first set.
But the query of who would blink first was answered within the breaker as Sabalenka’s composure immediately abandoned her.
A wayward Sabalenka backhand return plopped into the online to offer Garcia a 4/2 lead within the tie-break.
On the subsequent level, Sabalenka double-faulted handy the Frenchwoman a 5/2 lead.
Garcia introduced up 4 set factors with an ace for a 6/2 lead.
Handling strain
Although Sabalenka recovered to win the subsequent two factors, she double-faulted once more handy Garcia the set.
A clearly rattled Sabalenka was quickly in hassle within the second set, struggling a break on the primary sport after Garcia drilled a winner up the road.
That break proved decisive as Garcia by no means appeared like surrendering the initiative, holding for the rest of the set earlier than serving for the match at 5-4.
She earned her first match level when Sabalenka yanked a backhand return broad for a 40-30 lead.
Although Sabalenka saved that match level with a backhand down the road, Garcia regained match level with a booming serve earlier than changing on the subsequent level.
Garcia stated she was happy with how she dealt with the strain at key moments to arrange her win.
“Sometimes you are emotional or things don’t go your way,” Garcia stated. “Sometimes there is a big fight, so you have to find your way through it… and that was one of the biggest points I improved. Today one of the most important things was to stay calm and jump on every opportunity.”
Sabalenka, in the meantime, stated momentary lapses had price her dearly.
“I just dropped my level for a little bit – on the tiebreak and in the first game of the second set,” Sabalenka stated.
“The key moments, I dropped my level. That’s it.”
Nevertheless, the 24-year-old from Minsk was in a position to look again with satisfaction on a season that included a semifinal look on the US Open in September.
“I learned how to lose this season,” Sabalenka stated. “Before I used to be super aggressive after tough losses. And now I can accept the loss. For me, that’s really important because it’s not only about tennis, it’s about being a good person.”
