By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday November 5, 2022
Caroline Garcia won an epic battle with Daria Kasatkina to claim her spot in the last four at the WTA Finals.
Photo Source: Getty
Daria Kasatkina entered Saturday night’s winner-take-all tussle with Caroline Garcia at the WTA Finals with a 29-0 record when she won the first set in 2022.
She won the first set, but this time she couldn’t find a way to close it out.
Garcia battled past the Russian, edging her in an epic roller coaster of a third set which lasted 80 minutes, and claiming the last semifinal spot at the WTA Finals, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(5).
How did the 29-year-old Frenchwoman, who started the season at 74 in the WTA rankings, find her way to victory?
“I don't know exactly,” she said after her victory. “I tried to keep being very positive, trying to go for my game style – being aggressive. Every match, we say you have to give it all and no regrets – go for it. And it's always true but in this tournament even more. It’s the last one.”
Drama was high as the third set unfolded. Garcia saved a break point to hold for 4-4 and was seemingly closing in on victory in the next game, but Kasatkina battled to save six break points.
The Russian held serve and the pair found themselves in a tiebreak minutes later.
“It was definitely a tough game,” Garcia said of the marathon hold by Kasatkina, which lasted 13 minutes. “She was up 40-15 and then I came back, saved some game points and then got my opportunity.
"Sometimes you go for it, you miss it, but at least you know you went for it. But I did not. She served more tactically, like slow to my body. You can do one mistake, but I did three times the same one. I was like ‘oh no.’”
Garcia credited her ability to gather her courage and avoid being too passive down the stretch for the victory. She won a 32-stroke rally – the rally of the tournament – on match point to close out the epic victory.
“Normally my game style is to go for it but I was not going,” she said. “I was a bit mad by myself but after it was still 5-4 and I was serving so it was no break down. I just tried to focus one point at a time and we will see where it brings me.”
Garcia will face Maria Sakkari in the semifinals on Sunday, entering the clash with a 2-0 record against the Greek.
Swiatek Scorches Gauff to Reach Finals at Torrid Clip
Iga Swiatek, who rocked past Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-0, winning the final ten games to improve to 3-0 in group play in Fort Worth, will face Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the final.
The Pole has dropped just 13 games through her three matches this week in Fort Worth, which is just two shy of the record set by Justine Henin for least games dropped through round robin play, since the beginning of the new format in 2003.
Swiatek owns four straight victories over Sabalenka, including a tense three-set victory in this year’s US Open semifinals
It was a tough tournament for Gauff, who lost all three singles matches and all three doubles tilts on her WTA Finals debut.