Caroline Garcia, 5th in the world, was pushed to the super-tie break of the third set by the Canadian Leylah Fernandez (95th), but she snatched her qualification for the third round at Wimbledon after a spectacular and tense match won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10/6). “I had lost some big battles this year, so I told myself that I really had to give it my all,” commented the 29-year-old Lyonnaise with a big smile of satisfaction. Beaten last year in the round of 16 on the London turf (her best result in this tournament, already achieved in 2017), she will do at least as well this year if she defeats the Czech Marie Bouzkova (33rd) in the third round. .
Voltage crescendo
In her preparation for Wimbledon, Garcia lost in the quarters in Berlin (beaten by Petra Kvitova) and retired in the quarters in Eastbourne with a sore shoulder (while trailing 6-2, 2-1 by the Russian Daria Kasatkina). But on Monday, after an unconvincing qualification for the second round, she assured that she had “recovered well”. She even took advantage before her second round of an extra day of rest because of the delay in the evolution of the tournament because of the rain.
Thursday in the first set, the 20-year-old Canadian, finalist of the US Open in 2021, lined up four games in a row from 2-3 to take the upper hand. But in the second set, it was the Frenchwoman who quickly broke to lead 2-1. She managed to maintain her advantage and take the match to a deciding set.
The tension went to a crescendo as the players, each winning their face-off, approached the end. The tension did not detract from the quality of the game, they delivered a spectacular end to the match punctuated by a super tie break where the aggressiveness of the French took over. She broke away 7-3 and kept Fernandez at bay until the end, offering herself four match points at 9-5 to conclude on the second.