LIMOGES, France & HUA HIN, China – Caroline Garcia and Yaroslava Shvedova both picked up the second-biggest title of their career at WTA 125K Series events halfway across the world on Sunday.
Garcia, one of the leading WTA Rising Stars at the moment, came through at the Engie Open de Limoges in Limoges, France. A No.3-seeded wildcard into the event, she survived a pair of tough three-setters earlier on in the week before outdoing unseeded American Louisa Chirico in the final, 6-1, 6-3.
“I’m really happy with this victory,” Garcia said afterwards. “I had some difficult moments today, but it was an incredible final and the fan support was amazing. It’s never easy playing a final.
“It’s been an incredible week for me. I’ve lived through a lot of emotions here.”
And just how special is it to win a title in her home country? “It’s actually a relief to win here in France, and at a tournament I really appreciate. I’m really happy to finish with the title here.”
Garcia’s biggest title came at the WTA International-level event in Bogotá, Colombia in 2014.
Meanwhile, at the EA Hua Hin WTA 125 Series, it was Shvedova who came through, but in much tougher fashion. A day after having to rally from a set and 4-1 to edge Wang Qiang in the semifinals, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4, the No.4-seeded Kazakhstani had to recover after missing two match points in the second set – and rally from 4-2 down in the third – to beat Naomi Osaka in the final, 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-4.
Just a few weeks ago Osaka had her crowning moment, winning the WTA Rising Stars Invitational during the WTA Finals in Singapore, beating fellow WTA Rising Star Garcia in a very dramatic finish.
Shvedova’s biggest title also came at a WTA International event, in Bangalore, India in 2008.
The doubles titles at this week’s WTA 125K Series tournaments went to Barbora Krejcikova and Mandy Minella in Limoges and Liang Chen and Wang Yafan in Hua Hin. Krejcikova and Minella had the biggest comeback of the week in their final, rallying from 6-1, 5-2 down and fighting off two match points to edge Margarita Gasparyan and Oksana Kalashnikova for the championship, 1-6, 7-5, 10-6.
The last two WTA 125K Series events of 2015 take place in the next two weeks in Taipei and Carlsbad.
