Caroline Garcia continues upward trajectory by reaching Cincinnati semis

Slowly and surely over the past six months, Caroline Garcia has carved out a renaissance that has put her at the edge of the world’s top 30.

Caroline Garcia, Cincinnati 2022 – © AI / Reuters / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

August 20, 2022

For a player who was once proclaimed as a future world No 1 and who went on to reach the world No 4 ranking in 2018 at the age of 24, the past few seasons have been tough on Caroline Garcia.

The Frenchwoman ended the following season as world No 19 and then last two seasons outside the top 40 (No 43 in 2020 and 2021).

By February this year, Caroline Garcia was down to No 76 in the world rankings with many having written her off. But slowly and surely over the past six months, the Frenchwoman has carved out a renaissance that has put her at the edge of the world’s top 30.

Garcia’s revival began at her home event in Lyon, which she helped organize, where she reached the semi-finals. After missing two months, Garcia returned at the French Open where she reached the second round.

Since then, Garcia’s game and confidence has blossomed – she picked up titles in Bad Homburg (grass) and Warsaw (where she knocked out world No 1 Iga Swiatek), her first titles in three years. She also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon – her first since the French Open in 2020. Throw in a semi-final in Laussane and a quarter-final in Palermo and Garcia now has 23 wins since June 2022 – the most by any player during that stretch.

23 – Since June 2022, Caroline Garcia is the player with the most WTA-level main draw wins (23). Hurricane.@WTA_insider @WTA pic.twitter.com/07fhudlOXV
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) August 18, 2022

This week, at the Western & Southern Open, Garcia continues her upward trajectory – reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati – scoring quality wins over Maria Sakkari, Elise Mertens and Jessica Pegula.

With the way her confidence rising, there could be chances that we may soon see the Frenchwoman back inside the world’s top 10. First, she will need to beat Aryna Sabalenka to reach the final in Cincinnati.