France engineered a dramatic come-from-behind win over Germany at the United Cup, saving one match point in the deciding mixed-doubles rubber to prevail 2-1 on Monday night in Sydney.
No.20 Caroline Garcia opened her season with a comeback victory over former No.1 Angelique Kerber, winning 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the United Cup in Sydney. The victory leveled France at 1-1 against Germany and sent the Group D tie to a decisive mixed-doubles rubber.
Facing off for the 10th time in their careers and first since 2021, Garcia overcame a perfect opening set of tennis from Kerber, who was bidding to win her first match in 18 months. The 35-year-old German did not hit an unforced error in the 23-minute opening set. Garcia, playing her first match of the season, showed clear signs of rust.
But after struggling to find her range in the opening frame, Garcia pulled in her targets and slowly turned the match in her favor. As Garcia's aggressive returns started landing in, Kerber struggled to hold serve. She did well to wipe out two break points in her opening service game of the second set but was broken for the first time two games later.
With a break in hand at 3-2, Garcia was off to the races. The 2022 WTA Finals champion ran off seven consecutive games to take the second set and lead 4-0 in the third. After winning just 47 percent of her first serves in the first set, Garcia dialed in to win 90 percent in the second set and 79 percent in the third. She faced no break points in the final two sets and fired 11 aces en route to a 90-minute victory.
With the win, Garcia closed the gap in their head-to-head to 4-6.
In the mixed doubles, Garcia teamed with playing captain Edouard Roger-Vasselin to edge Kerber and Alexander Zverev 7-6(4), 2-6, [12-10] to seal the tie. After splitting sets, France looked in command with a 5-3 lead in the match-tiebreak. But Germany wiped out two match points to move within a point winning the tie and clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.
Garcia and Vasselin responded with clutch net play to extend the match and earn a third match point. Garcia out-rallied Kerber in a cross-court battle to seal the win.
Germany squeaked by Italy in its first Group D tie, while this is France's 2024 event debut. The victory took France to 1-0 in the group and dropped Germany to 1-1. France will face last year's finalist, Italy, in the final group match on Wednesday.
