WTA Finals: Aryna Sabalenka, Caroline Garcia to clash in final
What's the story
The stage is set for one last battle with the winner getting hold of the 2022 WTA Finals title. Seventh-seed Aryna Sabalenka will square off against sixth-seed Caroline Garcia in the championship match in Fort Worth on Tuesday. Sabalenka toppled world number one Iga Swiatek in three sets, while Garcia breezed past Greek Maria Sakkari with a 6-3, 6-2 win. We decode the finalists.
Sabalenka
Sabalenka kicks out Swiatek in the semi-finals
Sabalenka thrashed Swiatek 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to reach the finale of the 2022 WTA Finals. The Belarusian fired a whopping 12 aces to Swiatek's solitary. She converted six of her 13 break points and seized a total of 83 points in the duel. As per WTA, she survived her tour-leading 28th three-set match of the season to reach her third final of 2022.
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Sabalenka's only second win over Swiatek
The two-hour seven-minute showdown resulted in Sabalenka claiming only her second win over the Polish ace in six WTA encounters. Her maiden triumph was in the first round of the 2021 WTA Finals. It was also their maiden meet.
Feats
Sabalenka inks these numbers
As per Opta, Sabalenka is the third player to win against world number one, two, and three in a tournament in the 2000s after Venus Williams at the 2008 WTA Finals (vs Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, and Serena Williams) and Serena in 2002 Miami (versus Martina Hingis, Venus, and Jennifer Capriati). Sabalenka has a 33-21 record this season and eyes her maiden title (2022).
Garcia
Garcia overpowers Sakkari
Garcia dealt an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 win to enter the finale. She struck six aces and won a staggering 77% on her first serve. She broke four times and snared a total of 59 points in the duel. As per Opta, Garcia has now become the first player to reach the final at the WTA Finals after turning 29 since Venus in 2017.
H2H
Garcia extends her dominance over Sakkari
Garcia now enjoys a perfect 3-0 W/L record over Sakkari. Notably, the French ace had claimed a 6-3, 6-2 win in their maiden match-up in 2017 Wuhan. She then bested her rival in three sets in R32 in Cincinnati, where she went on to claim the WTA 1000 title. Meanwhile, Garcia stamped her career-best seventh Top 10 win of the season.
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An unwanted record for Sakkari
As per WTA, Sakkari's defeat is only the seventh instance of a player posting a 3-0 win-loss record in the round-robin and failing to reach the final. It last happened in 2015, with Maria Sharapova and Garbine Muguruza at the receiving ends.
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Sabalenka has a 2-2 record against Garcia
Sabalenka and Garcia have split their wins across four meetings so far. The latter has won each of their last two match-ups (2018 Zhuhai and 2022 Cincinnati).