Caroline Garcia claimed the 2022 WTA Finals title on Monday at Fort Worth in Texas. The Frenchwoman beat Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(4), 6-4 in an hour and 41 minutes. Garcia’s the only second French player to win the title. Earlier, 17 years ago, in 2005, Amelie Mauresmo had won the WTA Finals in Los Angeles.
The match featured just the one break of serve, which came in the second set on Sabalenka’s serve. In fact, it was the only break point of the match as Garcia didn’t face any break points on her serve. The sixth seed won 79% of her first-serve points and 58% of her second-serve points.
Sabalenka finished the match by winning 69% of her first-serve points and 70% of her second-serve points. The biggest difference in the match was in the number of aces and double faults each player hit. Sabalenka had four aces and three double faults.
Her opponent, however, had 11 aces and just the one double fault that helped her race away with the match in the end. For the match, Garcia finished with 68 points, five points more than Sabalenka’s 63.
WTA Finals: Caroline Garcia outpaces Aryna Sabalenka
This was also the fifth time the two were playing against each other, and the second time they were going face-to-face after the Cincinnati Open.
As in this American event, the result in that WTA 1000 tournament had also gone Garcia’s way, with her going all the way to the title eventually. Following her win, Garcia shared, “It’s definitely a lot of giant happiness.
A crazy final, a lot of intensity on every point. Just really proud of the work we did through all the year. It was a great match – really went for it. I’m really happy to win my biggest title”. The WTA Finals was the fourth title Caroline Garcia won in 2022.
Earlier, she’d won the Bad Homburg Open, the Poland Open and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Following her win, Garcia ended the year ranked fourth in the world, equalling her previous career-high she achieved almost five years ago, in 2017. Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka ended the season ranked fifth in the world. Photo Credit: Caroline Garcia Twitter
