Caroline Garcia crowned Western & Southern Open women's singles champion
MASON, Ohio − Caroline Garcia has become the first qualifier in WTA 1000 history to be crowned a champion. In this case, champion of the Western & Southern Open.
Garcia defeated Petra Kvitova in straight sets, having almost won by default when Kvitkova left the court in the second set with an unknown injury. However, Kvitova came back out, refusing to concede and managed to close the gap pretty tight. Garcia eventually won 6-2, 6-4, celebrating the numerous emotions flooding her brain with a flop on the court, a hug with her opponent and many, many tears.
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"It's pure joy, and happiness, you know," Garcia said. "I think that everything I win is very important, every title is very special ... it's always very hard to describe it and (because) it's not happening so often, you have to really enjoy it. I'm grateful for this great week of tennis and to win another title, it's very special."
Garcia upset three top-10 players en route to hoisting the trophy and has spent more than 13 hours on the court across this week's seven matches, including qualifying. She recorded a tournament leading 34 aces to bring her season total to 275 before Sunday's match and she also owns a tour-leading 26 main-draw victories since June, adding Kvitova to the shelf Sunday afternoon for 27.
"Definitely not the result I wanted, that's true, but at the end of the day, I was in the final and (for that) I'm very happy. I have to see the positive things," Kvitova said. "I could have been out in my first match, so it's hurting, but on the other side I have to see it overall and be proud of my 40th final (appearance) of my career. I didn't bring the bigger trophy, but she played very, very well. ... That's how it should be, how the champions are doing it and I just didn't do it today. She deserved to win."
The women are now 5-4 against each other historically, with Kvitkova leading by one. This title win in Cincinnati is Garcia's third of 2022, the other two coming from Warsaw and Bad Homburg.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Caroline Garcia crowned Western & Southern Open women's singles champion
