Caroline Garcia continued her winning ways at the China Open early Saturday morning. The French star pulled off a massive upset that took every inch of energy in her body to win over third seed Elina Svitolina 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(6) on Centre Court at the National Tennis Stadium. The long battle into the night gave Garcia her ninth consecutive match win by denying Svitolina of a seventh semifinal and her shot at becoming world number one.
Svitolina has one win over the French star from two years ago in which she swiftly took care of business. With the elimination of Karolina Pliskova, the 23-year-old world number three stands as one of two women left to earn the world number one ranking. The Ukrainian would have to continue her ways in the Chinese capital to make it. In yet another straight sets win, Svitolina handled the late fight from Elena Vesnina to level herself in the final eight with Garcia in her path.
The world number 15 got into a friendly competition with Alize Cornet in which she dominated from start to finish allowing three games total. With her also having yet to drop a set and coming off a title win in Wuhan, the 23-year-old hoped to pull off a big upset and move closer to a second title this season.
She assumed the lead early with a strong break of Svitolina prior to service hold. It woke up the Ukrainian to act fast and gear herself in to Garcia’s returns winning her first hold of the set. The French star acted wisely to win the fourth and level with the world number three but the 23-year-old had other ideas. She hunted down another break in the fifth which soon led to Andrew Bettles coming out to speak with Svitolina on how to adjust.
She broke Garcia in the sixth to level back once more before taking the lead in the seventh. It was the third game win for Svitolina which sent out Garcia’s father to speak with her to strategize the last games left to play in the set. Garcia held to bring an end to Svitolina’s winning streak. With both playing so close to each other’s skills, the fight for control was tense that saw the third seed take the lead for 5-4 hoping to stop Garcia in the following game.
She applied serious pressure on Garcia playing well against her serve that had her recovering two break points. She gained them back with an ace followed by a winner forcing deuce with Svitolina. It was there that they extended the game to four breaks with Garcia doing everything to capture the AD point. It was another forced error on the count of Svitolina that sent the two deeper to determine a clear winner.
Garcia thought she might have gained momentum breaking Svitolina in the 11th but her serve let her down handing the Ukrainian three break points. The world number three locked down the win forcing a tiebreaker where she has a good record playing them. She started with a misstep on her shot but got lucky with a long ball from Garcia to even the score. The French star started with hits that made Svitolina run all over the place using her backhand to finish off the rally. An ace brought the Ukrainian back but Garcia answered with her own winner that left the two dead even through six points.
The French star got a jump on the scoreboard but her opponent rallied back with two straight refusing to give an inch of confidence. The next rally ended in a critical mistake for Garcia who had the smash ready for the ball but timed it wrong, sending the return into the net. The second set point chance for Svitolina was at hand where she got it on a ball return landing long behind the baseline. After a brief challenge, Svitolina was awarded the set win after 68 minutes but knew that the challenges were not completely gone from her opponent. Garcia had 21 winners in 13 games but Svitolina’s first serve was under control winning 20 of 29 while holding the errors to just ten.
During the break, the Ukrainian called for the trainer where she received body treatment for her muscles. When it was finished, she saw Garcia’s first point land right at the net bouncing too many times to return it. It was the start to Garcia’s intention to hold serve getting right on the mark. She consolidated a break followed by an attempt to open the gap wider than before in the third. Svitolina knew she couldn’t allow that and forced deuce with the French number two. After four breaks, the Ukrainian broke Garcia and leveled the set at two all with an unforced error across court.
She got back into a tie with Garcia where another fight for a break ensued between the two. The fifth game went to deuce where after a few breaks, Svitolina came out of it victorious, leading for the first time. Garcia knew that matching the world number three was essential to staying within reach of her if she continued to trail.
The inability to holding her serve was becoming nerve racking as her returns on balls were coming off wrong giving Svitolina the edge. She took the seventh game and a chat with Bettles to keep her focused and confident in her quest for the match. Unforced errors on the serve killed her chance to break ahead keeping the hopes alive for the world number 14. She faced another deuce draw on serve where for the first time, secured the hold to lead 5-4 and threaten to extend the match.
The third seed also faced deuce but managed to hang on setting up another fight to the end of the second. Garcia was first to act taking the 11th game that pressured Svitolina to falter. With a lot of errors on the return game, Svitolina saw that her night wasn’t ready to end as the second set concluded in 64 minutes with Garcia carrying heavy momentum to the decider. She served 21 of 32 for points and 19 winners that supported her struggling second serve.
She opened the third with a fight on serve that she hung on to against Svitolina who was ready to get things over with on court. In response, the world number three held serve in the second and picked up her fifth break of the match shutting out Garcia for the lead. The Ukrainian added another win showing involvement in every point to make her move to take off. Garcia denied her the opportunity for a runaway and forced deuce where she waited for her moment to strike and get within reach.
She got to a three all tie with Svitolina and stayed that way to the eighth where the time came for a big move on serve. Svitolina hunted down her chance to turn the tide and did so with an eighth break on Garcia to sit 5-4 with the ball in hand to end a very long night for the two. Garcia didn’t care that it was already past midnight and her refusal to give into Svitolina who was down in the game. The Ukrainian was unable to close the gap and lost on an error that pushed the two to a third consecutive set extension. Garcia vied for a hold in the 11th game nearly getting it done but saw the ball landed wide on the challenge. They went to deuce again with frustrations in Svitolina’s head that were doused with an error from the Frenchwoman. She gained the AD point on a ball landing so close that when Garcia went for the challenge, she had none to use.
The world number two had her second chance to wrap up the math or face another nail biting tiebreaker. Keeping focused during such a critical time was hard for the third seed as errors came from her attempts on the break which Garcia dealt with considerable ease. For a second time, they would go to the tiebreak ultimately determining who had the energy left to get into the semifinals.
There was no leverage for either player as they matched one another on the scoreboard. Garcia had been able to stand eye to eye with Svitolina. The first to reach match point was the Ukrainian who whiffed on a hard backhand return on the third shot that made it six all. It was the 58th winner for Garcia as her willingness to win was alive and kicking. She took her turn to end the match for the first time smashing a shot far out of Svitolina’s reach ending a 3 hour and 21 minute marathon to keep her title hopes alive with a nine match streak.
Both players combined for 262 points and eight breaks on one another in what finished as an incredible fight and a real statement from the 23 year old French star who would no doubt become the number one player from France. Despite playing into Saturday, she would need every once of rest on the day prior to her semifinal matchup against Petra Kvitova.
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