Beijing: Unseeded Caroline Garcia of France won her second title in as many weeks as she stunned new world number one Simona Halep in the closely fought final of the China Open on Sunday.
Garcia is in the form of her life and edged out the Romanian second seed 6-4, 7-6 (3) to add the China Open to the Wuhan Open title she lifted last weekend, making it five WTA crowns in all.
Garcia’s feat was all the more remarkable because she was carrying a leg injury that has required frequent on-court treatment and completed a mammoth three-set quarter-final win well past midnight on Friday evening.
The 23-year-old, who is set to rise from number 15 to nine in the world, sank to her knees in relief on the hard court when she finally sealed victory in the second-set tie break. With rain teeming down outside ahead of what turned out to be a cracker, a leak in the Diamond Court stadium roof had threatened to dampen proceedings.
But that was soon fixed and there was little between the two players until Garcia broke Halep in the 10th game to grab the first set. The 26-year-old Halep had the superior mobility — Garcia had her right thigh strapped — but the French player was making the better shots.
One forehand winner was greeted with gasps from the mostly full arena in Beijing. The second set was even more competitive and the attritional seventh game turned out to be a turning point. Meanwhile, World number one Rafael Nadal won his sixth title of another remarkable year as he punished a disgruntled Nick Kyrgios.
The 31-year-old Spaniard was never really in trouble against the temperamental Australian in a 6-2, 6-1 rout in the match that lasted for 92 minutes on Beijing’s outside hard courts.
Nadal, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, came to the Chinese capital on the back of winning his third US Open. He saved two match points in his nervy opener against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
But after that Nadal sliced through the opposition to win the China Open for the first time since making his debut in Beijing in 2005. Since then Rafael Nadal has gone on to become one of the greatest players in the tennis history and he underlined his brilliance in swatting aside the 22-year-old Kyrgios in straight games.
