(Madrid) Caroline Garcia, fifth player in the world, logically qualified for the second round of the WTA 1000 in Madrid on Thursday, but admitted having had to “manage her stress” to overcome the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (52e) 6-3, 6-4.
Her best tennis, the Frenchwoman found it… in the last game, when she was serving for the match. An ace, two winning volley services and a return service out of his opponent for a clear shutout!
But there it was, the icing on a cake that had been hard to swallow. Garcia generally managed the Kazakh’s services well, but she had a hard time getting the upper hand on her own commitments, like this 6e game of the second set lost, during which his frustration took over.
” But why do you do that ? she yelled to herself, feverish and tense, after knocking a seemingly winning ball off the court. “I had to deal with my stress, but I’m glad I stayed focused and won,” she admitted after the match.
After winning the first set 6-3, she had started the second well, until the 7e game, where his nervousness took over. Putinsteva took her serve, then came back at 4-3.
We might have feared then, in this 8e game, that Garcia does not disunite, overtaken by her demons at the start of the season. A ball in the net, an unnecessary direct fault put her in difficulty. But she got out of the trap to avoid her opponent’s return.
At 5-3 service to follow, it was urgent for her to recover to avoid being won over by doubt. She did it in the most beautiful way. She will meet in the second round the Egyptian Mayar Sherif, 61e world.
On the men’s side, former world number one Andy Murray (current 52e) was eliminated in the first round by the unexpected Italian Andrea Vavassori, 164e in the ATP rankings, and best known for his doubles career.
The 35-year-old Scotsman went 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) in the second set tiebreaker, never looking like he could turn the game around.
