In a rematch of their recent China Open quarterfinal in which Caroline Garcia saved match point to beat Elina Svitolina en route to the Premier Mandatory title, the world No.8 from France recorded another spectacular comeback victory, edging the Ukrainian 6-7(7) 6-3 7-5 to keep alive her chances of progressing to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global on her tournament debut.
The eighth-seeded Garcia failed to capitalize on her leads twice in the opening set — first on a 4-2 lead and then on a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak, allowing the fourth-seeded Svitolina to victoriously squeeze through the set after saving two set points. Svitolina was the first to go up a break in the second set, 2-1, but Garcia erased her lead right away, winning four consecutive games and soon afterwards the set.
In the decider, Svitolina was twice a break up, but Garcia always broke back right away, including when Svitolina was serving for the match at 5-3. The Frenchwoman then won all the remaining games to pull off a spectacular win and go 1-1 in the Red Group, after loss to Simona Halep in her first round-robin match.
The only certain semifinalist in the Red Group is Caroline Wozniacki, with her two emphatic victories. while the other three women will have to fight more to secure a spot in the Singapore final four.
Elina looks out of gas. Caro is really playing well. I remember she doesn’t have much points to defend on earlier part of the year. She can still surge up the rankings!