Garcia overcomes spirited fight from Yastremska to set up Raducanu clash
In a match between two in-form players, Caroline Garcia came from a break down in the deciding set to beat Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska at Indian Wells
Caroline Garcia at the 2022 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships WTA 1000 tennis tournament
Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic
WTA BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells 2022 | Results | Schedule
France’s Caroline Garcia overcame a spirited challenge from Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska to advance to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Wednesday evening. The former world No 4 needed two hours and 27 minutes to beat Yastremska 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 7-5 to set up a second-round showdown with U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu.
After both players began the match on an even keel, Garcia pulled the trigger first to break in the seventh game and go up 4-3. She saved two break points to consolidate her break in the next game and served out the set to love to claim the first set 6-4.
Yastremska saves match points in second set but Garcia fights back in the decider
26-year-old Garcia broke early in the second set as well to lead 2-0 but Yastremska, who fled Ukraine with her younger sister as the war broke out a couple of weeks ago, showed some of the fight she has been hailed for in recent days.
The 21-year-old Ukrainian leveled the set at 3-3 and fought her way into a tiebreaker. Yastremska went on to save two match points in the tiebreaker to win it10-8 and send the march into a deciding set.
In the final set, it was Yastremska who broke first to lead 4-2. But Garcia, who reached the semi-finals in her home event in Lyon last week, fought back this time. The former world No 4 broke back to 4-4 and then broke the Yastremska serve in the 12th game to complete the 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 win in just under two-and-a-half hours.
While both players were fairly evenly matches throughout the contest, Garcia’s break points conversion which held her come through. The Frenchwoman converted four of nine break point chances while Lyon runner-up Yastremska was able to win only two of 10 opportunities.
This was Garcia’s first win over Yastremska, who received a wild card in singles as well as in the doubles draw with her younger sister Ivanna. The Frenchwoman will take on Britain’s Emma Raducanu for the first time next. Since her stunning run from the qualifying draw to the US Open title, Raducanu has won only three of nine matches on the tour and her progress during the ‘Sunshine Double’ will be keenly monitored in the coming weeks.
