Garcia triumphs over Svitolina

Singapore : Caroline Garcia extended her stay in Singapore after battling past Elina Svitolina in three sets to stay alive in the Red Group at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

In a rematch of their China Open epic from a few weeks ago - which saw Garcia save match point to beat Svitolina en route to the biggest title of her career - the Frenchwoman pulled off the stunner once again, winning 6-7(7), 6-3, 7-5 after a two hour and 45 minute battle.

“This was an incredible battle, the last match I had against Svitolina was already very long, and this one was the same,” Garcia told Andrew Krasny in her on-court interview. “It was a battle on every single point, and I’m just happy to be through.”

Garcia employed her aggressive, all-court game early on and did well to get ahead an early break in the first set, but the Frenchwoman couldn’t close out Svitolina when she had the chance. Svitolina worked her way back in it and pounced as Garcia began to rack up the unforced errors, recovering the break to level the score. The same pattern emerged in the tiebreak, where Garcia quickly got ahead 4-0 but allowed Svitolina back in it. The Ukrainian fought off two set points to steal away the opening set.

Svitolina got ahead to a quick break in the second set, but Garcia came roaring back after an emotional changeover trailing 2-1. She stepped into her shots and raised her level again, reeling off four games in a row to earn a double break and marching ahead to take the second set.

The tug-of-war match continued in the deciding set; Svitolina got ahead a break twice, and both times Garcia broke straight back to stay in touching distance. 

Garcia’s second break back came while trailing 5-3 with Svitolina closing in on the finish line, but the Frenchwoman stayed calm and kept pounding away at Svitolina’s defences. She rattled off four games in a row to claim the victory after a rollercoaster two hour and 45 minute battle.