Caroline Garcia did not register a single game against the world number 1 Ashleigh Barty, which allowed Australia to equalize a victory everywhere against France.
Caroline Garcia did not score a single game against world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, who allowed Australia to equalize a win against France all in the Fed Cup final, Saturday, November 9 in Perth, in Australia.
Barty won 6-0, 6-0 in just 56 minutes at the expense of French No. 2 in the second single. In the first, the French number 1 Kristina Mladenovic had, she, curtly beat Australian No. 2 Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-1 in 1 h 11 min.
The final continues on Sunday with the last two singles, followed by the doubles. Like the first match, the second was one-way, in favor of Australia this time.
Extremely solid, especially serving in the first leg, where she spent nearly 80% of first balls and hit six aces, Barty left no chance to Garcia. The number 2 French, she has achieved only three points win for sixteen faults, compared to fifteen and nine of the world number 1.
Tomljanovic, of Croatian origin but made eligible less than a month before the final by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), played her first match for her adopted country, at 26, and completely collapsed under the weight of the stake.
"I never felt that," she said. It's a difficult feeling to explain, I felt it from the ceremony (which preceded the matches), you play for something much bigger than the rest of the year, it's very special. "
A French success, the third after 1997 and 2003, would, from the first campaign of Julien Benneteau in the role of captain, complete the season of reunion between Garcia and his teammates, Mladenovic in particular, after two years of scramble. The Blue however remain on three defeats in the final, in 2004, 2005 and 2016.
Australia, the most decorated third nation with seven titles, is racing after its first Fed Cup trophy in 45 years (1974). Alicia Molik's players raised their country in the final for the first time in twenty-six years.
This final on the west coast of Australia is the last before the Fed Cup, like the Davis Cup since this year, handing his home games or away and his three weekends of competition throughout the year. year to focus on a one-week final tournament with twelve teams starting in 2020, in Budapest in the spring.
Mladenovic against Tomljanovic, Garcia against Barty
Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia were selected by France captain Julien Benneteau for the first two singles of the Fed Cup final on Saturday in Perth. Mladenovic will enter first on the court to face Ajla Tomljanovic at 11 am local time (4 am in France). Garcia will then challenge Ashleigh Barty. "It's the logic of the ranking, but it was not that easy, there was a lot of thought. For Saturday, it's the best option for us "Benneteau justified. The Garcia-Mladenovic duo has also been selected for the eventual double-decider, while Barty and Samantha Stosur have been associated on the Australian side. But this does not bode the rest of the weekend: as for the last two singles of Sunday, the tricolor captain will be able to change his selection until the last moment or almost.
