France’s Caroline Garcia put on a serving masterclass to claim the biggest title of her career on Monday by defeating Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to win the WTA Finals here.
Garcia covered her face with her hands and fell on her back after a Sabalenka forehand sailed wide on match point to earn her fourth title of the year.
“Today was such an intense final,” a smiling Garcia told Tennis Channel while donning a cowboy hat.
“I’m very proud of how I was able to keep my mind calm and really focus on one point at a time, one game at a time.”
Both players’ thunderous serves were firing early and neither faced a break point in the first set of the final of the season-ending tournament, which features the WTA Tour’s top eight players.
But in the tie-breaker the Belarusian’s second serve, which has bedeviled her at times this season, failed her again – first a costly double fault to fall behind 5-2 and then another on set point.
Garcia kept the pressure on from there, breaking to open the second set and coming through a tense deuce game to seal the win.
After receiving the Billie Jean King trophy from American great Chris Evert, Garcia had kind words for Sabalenka, the tournament’s seventh seed who stunned world No.1 Iga Swiatek in Sunday’s semi-final.
“You bring so much energy on the court every time, it’s always a pleasure to watch,” Garcia said.
Buzz over Sania post
Calcutta: “Where do broken hearts go? To find Allah.” This rather cryptic post on social media by Sania Mirza has sent the rumour mills buzzing.
There had been speculation that all is not well between India tennis ace Sania and her husband, Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik.
The celebrity couple got married in April 2010 and have a four-year-old son, Izhaan Mirza Malik.
Sania had recently also posted a picture with her son with the caption: “The moments that get me through the hardest days.’’
Neither Sania nor Shoaib has reacted to the rumours about their rift or separation.
But Sania’s father Imran took to social media saying the conjectures were “based on half-baked information” and added that such rumour-mongering was not “appreciated.”
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