Caroline Garcia, 17th in the world, seemed petrified by the stakes of a first Grand Slam semi-final on Thursday at the US Open where she was swept away by Tunisian Ons Jabeur (5th) 6-1, 6-3 in 1h06. The 28-year-old Frenchwoman never managed to free herself from the pressure or set up her aggressive game.
Garcia appeared very tense as soon as she entered the court
For his part, Jabeur (28) will play his second major final in a row after that of Wimbledon. It will be against the Polish Iga Swiatek (N.1 world) or the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (6th). “It’s great! After Wimbledon (defeat in the final against Elena Rybakina, editor’s note), I was under a lot of pressure and I’m really relieved to have confirmed my results. The season on hard courts had started a little badly, but I’m very happy to be in the final”, commented the Tunisian.
Garcia appeared very tense as soon as she entered the Arthur-Ashe court, contrary to what she had let on in previous rounds.
And she never broke free. Holder of the aces record for the season (316 before the half) and for the tournament this year (30 before the half) she managed only 2 (all in the second set) against 8 for Jabeur. And she committed a total of 23 unforced errors (against 15 for her opponent).
Garcia failed to put his game up
The Lyonnaise missed the first innings by completely missing her first game of service (four unforced errors) to concede the break. On the contrary, Jabeur started with two aces and won his first service game to lead 2-0.
The French then won her first and only game of the set, which she offered to her opponent on a 14th unforced error (against 5 for the Tunisian in this first set). In the second set, Jabeur scored the break to lead 3-1 and then kept his advantage until the end.
Despite his father’s injunctions “Put on the pressure” by beckoning him to move forward in the court, Garcia failed to put his game in place. This game which had allowed her to align a series of 13 consecutive victories since the first qualifying round of Cincinnati where she won the 10th title of her career just before coming to New York.
Still ranked 79th in the world in May, the former N.4 will return to the Top10 on Monday in 10th place. “I knew she was playing incredible tennis and putting a lot of pressure on her opponent. It wasn’t easy for me, but I was so well prepared mentally…”, explained Jabeur.
As for what’s next, the Tunisian admitted with a smile that she hoped Swiatek and Sabalenka would tear each other apart “for five hours”.