FORT WORTH, Texas — France’s Caroline Garcia spiked a banana on her bench while a first-set lead was slipping away, and Daria Kasatkina later whacked a couple of balls hard into the court with her racket after losing on serve.
All that was before a tense third set filled with brilliant shot-making and all the accompanying shouts and fist pumps – with the fourth semifinal spot in the WTA Finals on the line.
Garcia claimed that last opening in the season-ending event with a thrilling 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) round-robin victory.
The sixth-ranked Frenchwoman became the first in 30 matches this season to beat Kasatkina after losing the first set to the No. 8 player.
A third set that included a nine-deuce game with Kasatkina finally holding serve for a 5-4 lead ended in the tiebreaker when a scrambling Kasatkina put a volley into the net on Garcia’s second match point.
“It was a crazy match,” Garcia said according to AP. “It was the best match of the group.”
Elsewhere, no.5 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia pulled off a comeback from a set and a break down to keep their semi-final hopes at the WTA Finals alive.
Kichenok and Ostapenko took just over 2 hours to squeak past No.7 seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-7(7), 6-4, [10-8] in round-robin play in the Pam Shriver Group, eliminating Danilina and Haddad Maia from semi-final contention.
Kichenok and Ostapenko will now wait for the last doubles match of the day, where Gabriela Dabrowski and Guiliana Olmos face Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, before they find out if they make the final four.
There were no service breaks in the first set, although Danilina and Haddad Maia had to save a set point at 5-4 and another at 7-6 in the tiebreak. Danilina and Haddad Maia converted their third set point with a volley winner by the Brazilian.
However, Kichenok and Ostapenko reeled off five straight games from 2-0 down in the second set to take control. Ostapenko served out the set at 5-4, forcing a long Haddad Maia return on deciding point to seal it.
Very little separated the teams in the decisive match-tiebreak, but Kichenok slammed a volley winner to line up two match points at 9-7.
Kichenok missed her return on the first, but she forced an error with another strong volley to wrap up the win on the second.
Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka eliminated Jessica Pegula from the WTA Finals with a 6-3 7-5 group stage victory.
Belarusian world number seven Sabalenka, who finished the group stage with a 2-1 record, advances if Sakkari wins one set. If the Greek drops a set, or even loses in three sets, there are still mathematical possibilities for Sabalenka to progress.
Sabalenka made a blistering start, breaking Pegula to open the match and again for a 5-2 lead. World number three Pegula then fought off four set points to break straight back but Sabalenka broke to love in the next game to wrap up the set.
Pegula fell behind 2-0 in the second but fought back before Sabalenka, at 3-3, delivered a love hold and then came back from 40-15 down for a crushing service break before the top-ranked American returned the favour to extend the set.
But Sabalenka held to love for the third time in the set and fourth in the match for a 6-5 lead and then closed it out on her second match point when she ripped a backhand crosscourt winner.
“She’s an amazing player and she made me really work tonight,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “Just happy that I was really focused from the beginning to the end and I was able to finish this match in two sets.
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