Garcia Routs Podoroska, Secures French Win Against Argentina
WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia kicked off the new season as she had left off the last one: in phenomenal form. The World No.4 dispatched Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-0 in just 64 minutes on Friday as France completed a 5-0 win against Argentina in the United Cup.
Garcia had only conceded three games against Podoroska in their sole previous meeting, in the second round of Monterrey 2017, and went one better this time as she racked up 24 winners in just 14 games to move Team France into an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Podoroska had a rough start to the match, with two foot faults contributing to a pair of double faults in the opening game the second down break point. Garcia needed little help to impose her swashbuckling strategy on the Argentinian, though.
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Swarming the net at every opportunity, including straight off several returns, the 29-year-old won 18 out of 24 points in the forecourt. She conceded only two points behind her first serve and never faced a break point.
Former Roland Garros semifinalist Podoroska, who was sidelined due to injury for 10 months between 2021 and mid-2022, needed to battle hard just to get two games -- both requiring break point saves -- on the board. Garcia went from strength to strength as she raced towards the finishing line, finding clean winners to seal all four of her service breaks in the second set and hammering away a smash in style on her first match point.
Garcia's win means that France have wrapped up victory in their first tie without dropping a set. Indeed, following Day 1's straight-sets wins from Alizé Cornet and Arthur Rinderknech, the French team have only dropped 11 games over the first three rubbers.
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"I felt very good," said Garcia afterwards. "It's never easy to start a new season, and it's a new format of competition. I wanted to play well for myself, to put my game together after a good few weeks of practice, but competition is always different. Obviously beyond that I wanted to help my team to win the tie, so I'm very happy with my performance."
Victory was also sweet due to reversing the result of the FIFA World Cup final earlier this month, in which Argentina defeated France on penalties.
"We all wanted to have our little revenge," said Garcia. "But my coach [Juan Pablo Guzman], who is Argentinian, wearing the France T-shirt was pretty funny."
France’s unbeaten start to the United Cup was later extended by Adrian Mannarino, whose clean and precise hitting proved too strong for Federico Coria. The 34-year-old raced to a 6-1, 6-0 victory in just 62 minutes to open up a 4-0 lead for his team in the Group F tie.
The highlight of the match was a stunning tweener winner from ATP No. 46 Mannarino to break serve at 4-0, 40/A in the second set. He raced backwards to retrieve a flat Coria forehand and connected with the ball just inches from the ground to arrow an incredible passing shot that had the RAC Arena crowd — and the Team France player box — in raptures.
“Honestly, I got lucky on that one,” said Mannarino in his post-match press conference. “I was able to run well, that’s the first thing, and then it was just a question of luck. I was feeling good on the court.”
“I was not really paying attention to what they were saying,” added Mannarino when asked about his teammates reaction to his remarkable winner. “Obviously they were quite excited, but I was trying to stay focused and finish the match.”
Team France’s mixed-doubles duo of Garcia and playing captain Edouard Roger-Vasselin then completed the clean sweep for the sixth-seeded nation in its opening match. The pair defeated Podoroska and Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-2, 6-4 to ensure its team won the tie without dropping a single set across the five matches.
“It's a great day, great matches,” said captain Roger-Vasselin. “The players were amazing. Today when I stepped on court I had to be as good as them, which was not that easy. I'm super proud of them.
"Besides the quality of the match, it's also the team spirit. We are having fun together on court and off court as well. It's great to start the competition with a 5-0 win. You never know. It can be very important in the future in the competition, so every match is important. That's why we really wanted to win this mixed doubles. Now we will enjoy our day off tomorrow.”