Fort Worth (USA): Caroline Garcia defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the WTA Finals championship match 7-6 (4), 6-4, collecting USD 1.57 million and 1,375 rankings points.
Garcia, the 29-year-old from France, won all of the finals she played this year and will finish the year at No.4, equaling a career best.
In her first match of the season in Adelaide, Sabalenka, then ranked No.2 in the world, hit 18 double faults in a loss to Kaja Juvan, ranked No.100. The second was worse. Sabalenka’s defeat by Rebecca Peterson (No.93) featured an astounding 21 double faults. Coming into the final, Sabalenka had 425 double faults. No other player finished this year in the 300s.
“It’s definitely a lot of giant happiness,” WTA quoted Garcia as saying in her post-match press conference. “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.”
