“Sorry for the buzzkill” – Garcia dashes home hopes with brilliant win over Raducanu
The Frenchwoman rides into the third round at Wimbledon for the first time since 2017 with a quality victory over the British No 1.
Caroline Garcia reacts during her second round match against Britain’s Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon 2022 © AI / Reuters / Panoramic
Emma Raducanu brought the buzz onto Centre Court on Day 3 at Wimbledon, as the 2021 US Open champion hoped to continue her progress at her home Slam.
Caroline Garcia had other ideas.
She brought the buzzkill, defeating Raducanu, 6-3, 6-3, to book her spot in the third round at Wimbledon for the first time since 2017.
“It’s fair that’s everyone here supported Emma,” Garcia told the crowd. “I’m a little bit sorry for the buzzkill guys, but it was really a pleasure to play on Centre Court. It’s a very special court and of course it’s a great memory for me and it was, as always here, it’s a lot of respect, so it was really enjoyable.”
Garcia is turning into an extremely dangerous player this Wimbledon fortnight. Last week’s Bad Homburg champion stretches her current winning streak to seven matches with a brilliant display of attacking, precision tennis.
The 28-year-old world No 55 struck 25 winners against just 12 for Raducanu and won 16 of 20 points at the net. Raducanu could not measure up from the service stripe on Wednesday – the Brit won 43 percent of her first serve points and was broken five times in nine service games.
“I prepared for this match really well, [Emma] is a huge player and she’s in her home tournament and she proved that she can do very well in the big stage,” Garcia said. “So I was ready for the match and I really pleased with the way I fought. I went a lot to the to the net a lot and I really enjoyed to play on Centre Court – it was my first time and it was very special.”
Stay humble and take one match at a time
It appears that the former world No 4 has tapped a rich vein of form this summer, but she doesn’t want to get too hung up about her hot streak.
Her mantra? Every match is a new match. It worked well today as she routinely avenged a three-set loss at the hands of Raducanu from this spring at Indian Wells.
“It’s it’s good obviously, when you win a couple of matches in a row and I won a title last week in Germany (at Bad Homburg),” Garcia said. “But after that you have to start from all over again, and two days ago I played my first round against a British wild card, which was 7-6 in the third.
“So you have to stay very humble. Every match is a new match and doesn’t matter if you have like 10 wins in a row or 10 lost. You have to start all over again. And that’s what is nice with tennis. It’s like we all start from zero and we have to go for it.”
Garcia improves to 9-8 lifetime at Wimbledon and will bid for her second trip to the fourth round when she meets China’s Zhang Shuai next.
Raducanu – another valuable experience
It will leave a bitter taste no doubt, but Raducanu was able to make her first two appearances on Wimbledon’s hallowed Centre Court truly memorable, the first a scintillating 6-4, 6-4 win over Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck.
Though she did not come through today, the alternative – missing the tournament due to the abdominal injury that limited her to just one match in the grass court season – would have been far worse.
Chalk it up as a positive experience, and another piece of the puzzle that the 19-year-old is forming into what is sure to be a dynamic career.
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