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French No.1 Caroline Garcia was eliminated in the second round of Roland-Garros on Wednesday, beaten 6-3, 6-3 by American Sofia Kenin, 56th in the world who was a finalist in the event in 2020.
Garcia, who had painstakingly won her first match two days earlier at the expense of German qualifier Eva Lys, was unable to raise her level of play against this opponent who had already dominated her during their first two confrontations.
Roland-garros: French No.1 Caroline Garcia Leaves in the 2nd Round.
She lacked realism in the fifth game, on her serve, by not converting five opportunities to regain the advantage in the score. Broken by Kenin, who only needed one opportunity to escape, the Lyonnaise was then unable to avoid losing the first round.
In the second set, the former world No.4, now 23rd, gave up her serve again, on a double fault, to be led 3-1. Then, with a start, she immediately knew how to unplug. A moment cradled in illusion: it was only to lose one’s commitment a second time in a row.
Without spring in the last games, incapable of doing violence on the court, she finally bowed after 1h25 of the match.
Caroline Garcia, aged 30, has been struggling for many months to regain her best level which saw her win the WTA Masters in 2022 following a semi-final reached at the US Open.
At Roland Garros where her best run took her to the quarter-finals in 2017, she showed too much inadequacy to hope for better than this premature exit.
With Garcia eliminated, French hopes in the women’s draw rest on Chloé Paquet, recipient of an invitation, Diane Parry and Varvara Gracheva. The first two will need a lot to do, besides against the top seeds, the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
The third, surprise winner of Maria Sakkari in the first round, will be a little more favored by the forecasts against the American Barbara Pera.
For Kenin, winner of the 2020 Australian Open, the adventure continues, however. She will be opposed to the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (11th) or the Dane Clara Tauson (72nd).
