Caroline Garcia's stellar summer continued on Sunday as the No.5 seed swept past Ana Bogdan 6-4, 6-1 to win the BNP Paribas Poland Open title.
France's Garcia took 1 hour and 21 minutes to topple first-time WTA finalist Bogdan of Romania and claim the ninth Hologic WTA Tour singles title of her career.
Words from the winner: "It was a tough match, every final is always tricky," Garcia said afterward. "You know youβre at the last step and you want to make it happen, to hold the trophy in your hand.
"But thatβs what both players want. Maybe today is an experience I had from the past finals, [they] helped me to manage my emotions a little bit better and be able to play my game, to be very aggressive and to know what I had to do."
Resurgent Garcia:Β Former World No.4 Garcia had seen her ranking fall all the way to No.79 in May, her lowest position on the ladder since 2014. But since then, the Frenchwoman has had a tremendous resurgence, winning 18 of her last 21 matches.
Garcia's revival began in earnest five weeks ago with a title run on the grass of Bad Homburg, which was her first title in three years. Garcia followed that up with runs to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon, the Lausanne semifinals, and the Palermo quarterfinals over the past month.
Garcia extended that form with a powerful week on the Warsaw clay, which included an upset of World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Swiatek had been 18-0 on clay this season before Garcia pulled off the surprise.
Leveling out her trophy count π€©
β wta (@WTA) July 31, 2022
Clay πππ
Grass πππ
Hard πππ@CaroGarcia | #PolandOpen pic.twitter.com/O3HQZoF5mV
By the numbers: World No.45 Garcia improved to 2-0 over 108th-ranked Bogdan with the victory in the final. Garcia was sturdier defending her service in the match, winning 72 percent of her first-service points. Bogdan won only 47 percent of points behind her first serve.
In recent weeks, Garcia has claimed the position of ace leader on the WTA this season, wresting that title away from reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. Garcia had two aces in the final, bringing her total for the year up to 238.
Return worthy of a roar π£οΈ@CaroGarcia | #PolandOpen pic.twitter.com/eeewW7uisr
β wta (@WTA) July 31, 2022
Key moments:Β Garcia, who returned serve impeccably all week, blasted to an early 3-0 lead. Bogdan made a run to get back into the opener, finding a forehand winner to get back on serve at 5-4, but another powerful return in the next game sealed the one-set lead for Garcia.
The pattern continued as Garcia fired another big return winner to earn the first break of the second set for 3-1. Garcia eased to the trophy from there, winning the final five games of the match.
Anna Danilina i Anna-Lena Friedsam mistrzyniami turnieju deblowego!
β BNP Paribas Poland Open (@BNPPolandOpen) July 31, 2022
Anna Danilina and Anna-Lena Friedsam won the doubles final! πππ@WTA #bnpparibaspolandopen #wta250warsaw pic.twitter.com/1b4OQ4owIQ
Doubles championship: No.4 seeds Anna Danilina and Anna-Lena Friedsam captured the doubles title, outlasting No.2 seeds Katarzyna Kawa and Alicja Rosolska 6-4, 5-7, [10-5].
The all-Polish pair of Kawa and Rosolska nearly pulled off a comeback in front of their home crowd, charging back from an 8-0 deficit in the match-tiebreak to 9-5. However, Danilina and Friedsam held on for the 1-hour and 50-minute victory.
Danilina successfully defended her Warsaw title, having won the trophy last year alongside Lidziya Marozava. The repeat marks Danilina's third career WTA doubles title, and her second of the year.
Friedsam is also up to three doubles titles in her career, and Warsaw is her first title of the season.