MY ACCOUNT
Caroline Garcia is this season’s WTA Finals champion after defeating Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in Monday’s decider in Fort Worth.
Her road to the final included wins against Coco Gauff, Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari, with her only loss coming against world number one Iga Swiatek, who was eliminated by Sabalenka in the semi-final.
Against Sabalenka, Garcia showed off her powerful serve early as she racked up 10 of her 11 aces in the opening set.
Neither player had a single break point opportunity in the first frame, with both competitors winning exactly 70 per cent of their service points, but after going down a mini-break in the tiebreaker, Garcia rattled off six consecutive points to pull away.
She nabbed the decisive break in the very first game of the second set, serving it out well as she again denied Sabalenka any break point chances.
In one of the biggest matches of her career, Garcia played lights-out, committing just 10 unforced errors with her 24 winners while serving only one double-fault.
She was outside of the top-70 in the world rankings at this time last year, but with the win, Garcia will rise and equal her career-best ranking of fourth in the world.
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Garcia – 11/1
Sabalenka – 4/3
WINNERS/DOUBLE FAULTS
Garcia – 24/10
Sabalenka – 15/11
BREAK POINTS WON
Garcia – 1/1
Sabalenka – 0/0
