Caroline Garcia soars past Petra Kvitova in Cincinnati Masters to claim 10th career title

Aug 22, 2022

Cincinnati [US], August 22 : France's Caroline Garcia defeated Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in the Western and Southern Open final on Sunday, clinching her third title of the year.
World No 35 Garcia took one hour and 42 minutes to topple Kvitova, becoming the first qualifier to win a WTA 1000 title since the tier was created in 2009.
"Pure joy, I think. Just happiness. Every single win is very important. Every title is very special, [WTA] 250, 1000, it's always very hard to describe it. It's not happening so often, and you have to really enjoy it. I'm really grateful for this great week of tennis, and to win another title, it's very special," Garcia said in her post-match press conference.
"Every match, every day was a new day, new challenge. Every time I had to be focused on myself, on my game, what can I do, how I can be more aggressive, how can I improve. Just one day at a time I ended up here today in the final and now lifting the trophy
"The [WTA] 1000, everything goes so fast. You have to refocus every morning. It's a tough challenge, but I'm really happy the way we made it through. We know [Kvitova is] a big hitter, trying to move you as soon as she can and putting pressure on the return. So the plan was definitely to not let her do that, which is not always easy, but that was the plan," Garcia said.
During her stunning run this summer, Garcia became the ace leader for the season, exceeding Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. Garcia added 11 aces in Sunday's final to increase her total for the year to 286.