By Alberto Amalfi | Saturday, June 25, 2022
Caroline Garcia rallied past Bianca Andreescu 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 in the Bad Homburg Open final to collect her eighth career title.
Photo credit: Bad Homburg Open
Final set stress doesn’t daunt Caroline Garcia.
Down a break in the decisive set today, Garcia responded with forward thinking—and a four-game run.
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Applying her all-court skill, Garcia rallied past Bianca Andreescu 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 in the Bad Homburg Open final to collect her eighth career title.
In a match of former world No. 4 players, Garcia served with more ambition under pressure winning 12 of 17 first-serve points and denying four of five break points in the third set.
The 75th-ranked Frenchwoman has played with clarity in decisive sets this season: Garcia raised her 2022 three-set record to 8-2. Three of Garcia’s five tournament wins this week went the distance, including her 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 victory over compatriot Alize Cornet in the semifinals.
Two-time Roland Garros doubles champion Garcia has a love of lawn tennis. Three of Garcia’s eight career titles have come on turf, including Mallorca (2016) and Nottingham (2019).
A gritty two hour, 42-minute triumph followed a similar finals pattern for Garcia. The last two finals Garcia played prior to Bad Homburg—Nottingham and Strasbourg 2019—were three-set matches, both lasting over two hours.
Playing her first final of the season, Andreescu broke for a 2-0 lead in the final set. Garcia responded with her four game-run with three of those games decided after deuce.
Garcia improved to 34-19 lifetime on grass, including a 7-2 mark on lawn this season.
Garcia will be a player to watch at Wimbledon next week. Her best SW19 result was a fourth-round finish in 2017 where she fell to Johanna Konta. Next week, Garcia is set to face No.206 Yuriko Miyazak with the winner playing either US Open champion Emma Raducanu or Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck.
The 2019 US Open champion Andreescu is scheduled to play qualifier Emina Bektas in her Wimbledon opener.