(Fort Worth) Caroline Garcia (6e world) qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA tournament, thanks to its victory 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) against the Russian Daria Kasatkina (no 8), Saturday in Fort Worth in Texas.
Updated yesterday at 10:17 p.m.
The Frenchwoman, who had already reached this stage during her first participation in the event in 2017, will face the Greek Maria Sakkari (no 5) on Sunday.
The other poster of the last four will oppose world no. 1 Iga Swiatek to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (no. 7).
It was after 2:27 of a fierce fight that Garcia ended up having the last word on Kasatkina, rewarded by her perseverance in getting rid of a tough opponent, relying on her offensive game, even if it meant that it is not always lined with precision.
After the loss of the first round, the French did not disunite by going it alone in the second.
A remarkable performance in itself, because when Kasatkina wins the first round, she always wins behind: the Russian has thus won the 28 games in which she had the best start this year. Until this Saturday, then.
The third set came down to a tiebreaker, after Garcia missed six chances to grab her rival’s serve at 4-4. Not enough to prevent him from moving forward and winning.
It was a crazy game. I had to give everything to win it, stay positive until the end. Daria is such a fighter, I’m glad I was as much as her tonight.
Caroline Garcia
With this victory, imperative to hope to continue her journey in this competition, she thus ensured to finish second in the Tracey Austin group, behind the untouchable world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Provisional classification of the group Tracey Austin
- Iga Swiatek, No. 1 (Poland): 3 wins, 0 losses, +6 innings, +23 games
- Caroline Garcia, No. 6 (France): 2 wins, 1 loss, +1 set, +2 games
- Daria Kasatkina, No. 8 (Russia): 1 win, 2 losses, -1 set, -7 games
- Coco Gauff, No. 4 (USA): 0 wins, 3 losses, -6 innings, -18 games
NB: If two players are tied, the result of their direct confrontation decides between them. If three players are tied, they are separated by the total number of sets won, or even the total number of games won.