FORT WORTH, Texas – Caroline Garcia easily defeated Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals on Sunday, advancing to the WTA Finals championship game for the first time in her career.
In the final Garcia will cross swords on Monday evening with Aryna Sabalenka, who measured Iga Swiatek, the first racket in the world, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
Garcia will also be looking to become the second French player to be crowned champion of the season-ending tournament. Amélie Mauresmo had also landed the tour de force in 2005.
Twenty-four hours after beating Daria Kasatkina in an 80-minute third set to secure a ticket to the semi-finals, Garcia needed just 74 minutes to claim her fourth win of the season against a top 5 opponent.
Garcia has never been behind, dominating fifth-seeded Sakkari in strokes (21-8) and aces (6-0) wins.
“I don’t know,” Garcia admitted when asked where she found the energy to dominate after such a great performance the day before. “Yesterday I was a little tired, but it was nothing unusual after such an important match.”
Garcia managed to advance from the group stage in both of his appearances in the WTA Finals. The 29-year-old lost the semi-finals of the eight-man event five years ago.
“I’m five years older and maybe five more in terms of wisdom,” said Garcia, sixth-placed, who was world number 74 at this time of the season last year. “You try to learn from everything. I have a good team behind me, which supported me when I doubted myself a little.
Krejcikova and Siniakova in the race for the double
Reigning doubles champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova progressed to the final with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko.
The first Czech seed is set to finish a dominant season, having suffered only three defeats so far. She has also won all three of the Grand Slam tournaments she has participated in.
It was the third win this season for Krejcikova and Siniakova against the tandem of Ukrainian Kichenok and Latvian Ostapenko, in fifth place. One of these victories came at Wimbledon.
Krejcikova and Siniakova will face Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens in the final of the season-ending tournament on Monday. The latter easily defeated Desirae Krawczyk and DemiSchuurs 6-1, 6-1 later on Sunday night.
