(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 (52nd) 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 service-volley winners and a service return out of his opponent for a final shutout!
But there it was, the icing on a cake that had been very hard to swallow. Garcia generally handled the Kazakh’s serves well, but she struggled to get the better of her own commitments, like in that 6th game of the second set lost, during which her frustration took over.
” But why do you do that ? “, she yelled to herself, feverish and tense, after knocking a seemingly winning ball out of court. “I had to deal with my stress, but I’m glad I stayed focused and won,” she admitted after the game.
After winning the first set 6-3, she had started the second well, until the seventh game, when her nervousness took over. Putinsteva took her serve, then came back at 4-3.
We feared then, in this 8th game, that Garcia would disunite, overtaken by her demons from 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 the return of her opponent.
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, 61st in the world.
In men, former world number one Andy Murray (current 52nd) was eliminated in the first round by the unexpected Italian Andrea Vavassori, 164th 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.
