Garcia wins WTA finals against Sabalenka: "Caro, I really hate you right now, but you played incredible tennis"

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Caroline Garcia after her triumph in Texas

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CJ GUNTHER/EPA

France's Caroline Garcia has won the final of the WTA Finals for the first time in her career.

The 29-year-old tennis player defeated Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus on Monday evening (local time) in Fort Worth, Texas 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 4.

After Amélie Mauresmo, Garcia is only the second French woman to win the tournament of the best eight tennis players of a season.

Garcia is also the oldest winner since Serena Williams won in 2014 at the age of 33.

The day before, Sabalenka had surprisingly won in the semifinals against the Pole Iga Świątek, who had not lost 15 games in a row against an opponent from the top ten in the world rankings.

"Caro, I really hate you right now, but you played incredible tennis, not just tonight but this year," said Sabalenka, who will become number five in the world, to her opponent after the match.

She hopes that they will play many more finals against each other.

Garcia fourth for the first time

Garcia, who was in the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, received prize money equivalent to 1.57 million euros, and she climbed to fourth place in the world rankings for the first time.

In mid-June it was still outside the top 70.

After her success in Texas, she was moved and dedicated the triumph to all the people she had met in the past.

“I met a lot of people along the way.

Some are here - some who met me as a 12-year-old girl and helped me become a better person and player," Garcia said.

The French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" ran the headline in its online edition on Tuesday morning after the match: "The Coronation".

ngo/dpa/sid/Reuters