Garcia stays alive at WTA Finals beating Svitolina in three sets

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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 11^th 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 12^th 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.

Wozniacki blasts out big win over number one Halep in straight sets at WTA Finals

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Caroline Wozniacki was on a mission to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Singapore Wednesday night. The former number one ruined the day of the reigning number one Simona Halep in straight sets 6-0, 6-2 on Centre Court at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Both won their opening game of the round robin making their sixth meeting very important. Wozniacki held the series lead but winning another against the Romanian would assure her clinching a semifinal spot as the number one in the group. Both got straight wins on Monday making their match possible to go three sets like the last few meetings have so far.

Wozniacki knew of the recent history with Halep and held her ground to consolidate her opening serve with a break and a second hold. The world number one nearly had a fight to deuce in the third game but the Dane locked down the victory to hold up the winning streak. She made 5-0 fast that sent out coach Darren Cahill to come out and speak to Halep before continuing on.

His pleas to play more inside the court were unanswered but somehow found herself inching towards a hold. She blew it with a third error of the game into the net that set up deuce and set point opportunities for the Dane. A final shot from Halep into the net brought a quick end to the set that lasted 24 minutes. Wozniacki served 94 percent in the set with just two winners and two errors to the bagel on Halep. She allowed the world number one juts ten points in the span of six games that dictated dominance for the 27-year-old.

It played into the second with a show of force in the opening game. Wozniacki made her stance with a line drive return on the rally on the sixth point and another in the seventh that the Romanian couldn’t get back. It was the seventh straight for Wozniacki who apparently woke up something deep in Halep’s inner core. The 26-year-old fought to hang on to serve and lock down the win which sent her constituents into a cheer.

The hold of serve lasted three games before Wozniacki got back into her dominating form breaking Halep in the fourth for a 3-1 lead. Not wanting the margin to get any bigger, Halep went for a shot at breaking the Dane increasing her winners in the set. The backhand was her downfall at times that forced deuce and eventually gave Wozniacki the win. Cahill came out during the changeover trying to keep the confidence of his athlete in check.

She managed to produce a second service hold but the margin was still large enough for the former world number one to coast to the ultimate goal. The hold over Halep in the seventh set Wozniacki up for a chance to play for the match which she played her best. Getting ahead on the score, Wozniacki played the rallies in fine form to finish match point with a line drive winning ending the night in 63 minutes.

She finished with less winners than Halep but kept the errors in single digits while maintaining an average service percentage. “I’m very pleased,” said Wozniacki to Andrew Krasny after the match. “I think I played really well today and went out and just stayed aggressive. I was expecting to be leading by that much in the first set so all the sudden I started thinking what is happening. I just kept staying positive and take the ball early and get on my shots.”

With a final match against Caroline Garcia on Friday, she’ll hope to maintain the consistency and prepare for her spot that she clearly wanted.

Sabres hold shutout over Red Wings

Benoit Pouliot #67 of the Buffalo Sabres celebrates his goal against the Detroit Red Wings with teammates during an NHL game on October 24, 2017 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)

A good push from the Buffalo Sabres gave them a well-earned at KeyBank Center Tuesday night. The lone goal from Benoit Pouliot and supreme goaltender from Robin Lehner earned them the 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. It was the second time that Buffalo won back to back games since March of last season and another step in the right direction against their division rivals.

The Red Wings wanted nothing better than to end their four-game losing streak despite being on the road once again. Their hopes were alive facing the Sabres who they have dominated well against in the past. Buffalo has been on and off when it came to winning streaks and hoped to add on to their victory against the Boston Bruins.

Buffalo came out with two shots right from the start waking up the Red Wings who knew couldn’t fall back. They surged greatly over the next several minutes taking nine shots. The Sabres somehow gained a power play but didn’t convert much from it finding themselves in trouble when hanging on to the puck. The shots on goal push from the Sabres slowly gained speed but Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard and the Detroit defense stopped them as half the period was gone.

Buffalo took a new approach, rushing the puck with some focus that saw them getting pucks centered at Howard. The New York native made the key saves against the Sabres to keep them scoreless. Detroit gained one in the final minutes while the Sabres notched a dozen total before the period came to an end.

Detroit started the second period much like the way they began with scoring chances coming at Lehner. With plenty of effort, Lehner made saves against Detroit in the hopes of giving his team a shot to score first. They briefly had a power play but committed a penalty that allowed Detroit a short time on the man advantage. Buffalo denied the Red Wings from not only getting a lot of shots on net but also empty handed. In response, they went back to even strength where Pouliot got possession of the puck near the boards behind Howard. He made a quick move scoring on a wraparound that gave him his second of the season.

Pouliot’s goal had Buffalo in a good spot to keep the attack hard in the Detroit zone. The Red Wings trailed the Sabres who struggled to get enough pucks to the net and commit to the rebounds. The second half of the period saw them troubled with Dylan Larkin gaining his third consecutive penalty. While the Sabres didn’t connect on the man advantage, it gave them a lot of built up confidence to stay ahead on the shots on goal and go into the third period still leading.

Both power plays from Detroit and Buffalo were struggling as they got one each to start the period but failed to convert. When even strength returned, the Red Wings tried getting something together but they were stopped by the Sabres in the neutral zone ending their offensive runs. Time running off the clock and man to man coverage worked in favor of the Sabres who took every opportunity to pressure Howard.

When Detroit got out of trouble, they tried turning the tables and creating some opportunities to run at Lehner and get the tying goal in while they had time do so. For three minutes, the Red Wings kept the game inside the Sabres zone hoping to tire them out and level the score. They lost the chance when the teams went to 4 on 4 nearly paying the price shortly after. On a breakaway attempt, Evander Kane went on Howard taking a shot that Howard made a terrific save on. He stopped the secondary chance that reset Detroit to go back to their mission.

2:33 was left on the clock with the Red Wings still down a goal. Howard briefly went to the bench where he received instructions on Detroit’s next move. They pulled him during a break that gave Detroit six attackers for the duration. The Sabres made some serious stops with Lehner ending the play with a key stop.

Buffalo had a chance to reset where they got the chance to play back in the Red Wings end. It brought Howard back between the pipes with 91 seconds left. He left as the play left his area hoping to get the tying goal in with 1:20 left. Buffalo was all over Detroit gaining chances to kill off time and get another win. They did it with a desperate Red Wings team that went for anything while Buffalo held their ground. When the horn sounded, Buffalo had a lot to be positive about while the Red Wings suffered yet another loss.

Lehner made 32 saves in his first shutout of the season that improved him to 2-3. Howard wasn’t so lucky as he added the Sabres to a long list of teams that he wasn’t able to defeat in regulation. His second straight defeat despite having 31 saves was just another heavy hitter that extended Detroit’s losing streak to five games. The three-game road trip only got challenging as they faced the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday who were the original team to begin Detroit’s slide.