From “Flying Caro” to “Crashing Caro”. In the grip of doubt for several months, the French never stops chaining disillusions. She had already disappeared two weeks ago in Cincinnati, where she was defending champion. At the US Open, she had reached the semi-finals last year and, again, she left the stage in the first round. Beaten by the Chinese Yafan Wang, 114th in the world, her tournament lasted only 70 minutes. Times are tough for Caroline Garcia. Very hard.
However, her start to the match was far from catastrophic on Tuesday on court number 5, where Ugo Humbert lost sharply just before her against Matteo Berrettini. The Rhodanienne led 1-0 then 2-1, while obtaining break points on the first two games of her opponent, without being able to convert them, unfortunately. In the 5th game, she conceded the only break of this first set, pocketed 6-4 in 43 minutes by Wang.
34 unforced errors
After that, Garcia fell completely, quickly dropping serve twice to find themselves trailing 4-0. There was nothing left in his racquet or in his head. From then on, the match was painful to watch. His stats too. The world number 7 has accumulated unforced errors (34 in total, against only 11 to her opponent), especially in return. At least she avoided taking a “bagel” in this second set. Tiny consolation for his pride.
Of the five tournaments played since Wimbledon by Caroline Garcia, this is the fourth time that she has been eliminated in the first round. It’s been a deadly summer for the number one tricolor, buried by the weight of its results for the second half of 2022 and especially the expectations they have generated at home. His fall in the standings will not be too spectacular at the end of this US Open, in particular thanks to the points of his title at the Masters. But time is running out: if she wants to keep in touch with the Top 10 by the end of the season, she will need a big fall. But it seems far from such ambitions to date.