Sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia booked a spot in the championship match with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari on Sunday in the WTA Finals at Fort Worth, Texas.
The Frenchwoman had a 21-8 edge in winners during the semifinal match while continuing her strong recent play. She had a 6-0 advantage in aces and converted 4 of 5 break points.
Garcia will play either top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland or No. 7 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in Monday’s final. Those two women were slated to play in Sunday night’s other semifinal.
Garcia, 29, was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world in 2017 before her career took a downturn due to injuries. But she played her way into this season’s WTA Finals by winning three tournaments — including the 1000-level Western & Southern Open near Cincinnati — and a stirring run to the U.S. Open semifinals.
“You try to learn from everything,” Martinez said after Sunday’s win. “We got some tough experiences the last couple years, but I’ve got a big team behind me and supporting me, staying positive even when I was negative about myself. It’s definitely a great year. A lot of things happened that I didn’t think would happen.”
Sakkari, from Greece, recorded just eight winners and made 19 unforced errors. Martinez had 17 miscues.
–Field Level Media