Caroline Garcia saved herself from ending the season at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore Wednesday night. The French star kept her hopes alive with a 6-7(7), 6-3,7-5 victory over Elina Svitolina on Centre Court at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The win saved Garcia from elimination with a second chance at making the semifinals.
Their thrilling match in Beijing was very drawn out in what resulted as a big win for the eventual winner of the tournament. Going into this one, their third match of the finals was very important to win as they had yet to do so. Garcia got four game wins in her loss to Simona Halep while Svitolina who is known to fight to the bitter end, only had two. With both fighting to make the semifinals at any cost, their third match meant everything to achieve a chance to move on.
The breaks started early in which Garcia took the first one from Svitolina. Knowing that she couldn’t drop early in the set, the world number one followed suit before consolidating a service hold in the third to lead. Garcia pulled the same switch on Svitolina that added two straight wins to her bottom line. A key win for the Ukrainian in the seventh let her stay within reach of the French star with the service hold. She took a conference with coach Andrew Bettles who gave her tips on how to counteract Garcia and believe in herself.
The words of wisdom helped out tremendously as she pulled out a critical win for the break that leveled her at four all. The next game was a huge statement from the 23-year-old as she capped her first service to love against Garcia that allowed her the 5-4 pressure and come out on top. Garcia didn’t want that to happen responding with some stability that got her to deuce with Svitolina. While it took a few breaks, Garcia got the result she wanted that extended the fourth consecutive set played with the Ukrainian.
They wasted no time with the formalities and both leveled to six apiece before a tiebreaker had to come into action. Garcia gave the notion of her dominance with an early 4-0 break over Svitolina. In an act of battling, the world number four leveled back which led to a standoff trading off point after point until they got to seven points each. It was there that the smallest mistakes from Garcia gave Svitolina the push that allowed her to win the set 9-7 ending 66 minutes. Bettles came out during the break to speak and review the good things that were occurring. Svitolina kept the errors low and had enough winners and aces that put a lot of pressure on Garcia who was on the verge of elimination.
She started the second set with a hold, but Svitolina added two straight victories that broke her in the third. During the break, Garcia took a moment with her father and coach where she let her emotions get out while he pleaded with her to enjoy the moment and her accomplishments.
The words of encouragement helped produce a victory in the fourth breaking Svitolina before consolidating it with a win that came on a sharp ace. She pulled off two more wins that increased the streak to four as her confidence was very high while something fell apart in Svitolina’s game. Bettles came back out asking her to adjust and not play to her dictations but rather to her own offense. A hold in the eighth staved off an end to the set with two more needed to make the comeback. She put together a redirect strategy that gave her a 40-0 lead but Garcia fought back to force deuce and win the set after two breaks due to a critical error from the Ukrainian. It was over in 40 minutes with Garcia very much focused on the mission at hand going into a second consecutive match with Svitolina to go three sets. She had 16 winners and three aces in her win that only meant more to come from her in the decider.
Svitolina took the first two games before Garcia got on the board in the set. The French star slowly rallied back with the world number four that brought them to a three all tie in the sixth. Svitolina kept an edge over Garcia with a service hold with pressure being the key to move closer to the match. Every point was crucial in the eighth game as Svitolina needed the break while Garcia looked to level the score. The Ukrainian got ahead just enough to hold a break chance to get the win.
Garcia attempted to keep herself alive and make Svitolina pay dearly for it. The 24-year-old nailed down four consecutive winners that gave her the key break to stay alive and sit a game down from what could be a fight to the bitter end. An excellent service game secured extra frames to be played for Garcia who was not ready to give up. Garcia didn’t allow much to be done from Svitolina’s end as she delivered great returns to lead.
The fourth seed struck back to deuce but Garcia’s focus was on taking the game which she accomplished on the second break point to extend the set. A battle ensued in the 11th with Svitolina once again fought to hold but fell to Garcia who carried amazing energy that gave her the chance to serve for the match. She put her strengths in the 12th where every point was big to give her the win that kept her alive to play more tennis. 2 hours and 44 minutes.
“It was an incredible battle,” Garcia said after the match to WTA’s Andrew Krasny. “The last time against Svitolina was already along and this one was quite the same. It was a battle on every single point and just happy to be through.” It would be a battle of the Carolines on Friday facing Caroline Wozniacki while Svitolina faced Simona Halep to determine which of the three would join the Dane in Saturday’s semifinal.
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