Caroline Garcia happy to beat Katie Boulter in "crazy" Billie Jean King Cup contest
Caroline Garcia and Katie Boulter played out an epic contest in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifier on Friday, April 15. In a three-hour 26-minute match in Coventry, England, Garcia prevailed 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 7-6(2) to give France a 2-0 lead against Great Britain.
Boulter won the opening set and went toe-to-toe with the World No. 5. Despite losing the second in a tie-break, she fought back hard and even led by a break in the deciding set. However, the World No. 154 couldn't make the most of it, as Garcia fought back to take the third set and emerge victorious.
After the match, Garcia praised her 26-year-old opponent and expressed satisfaction at winning the match.
“It was a crazy match… three hour-twenty or something – that’s pretty rare in tennis in three sets. It was a lot of up and down. Three tie-breaks shows how tight the match was. Katie played unbelievable. She’s a great player. I’m sure she can do so much good in tennis. I just had to fight, it was played on a few points here and there,” she said.
Boulter has gone the distance in each of her last five clashes with top-10 players. She came agonizingly close to recording her third victory in a row against a top-10 player after her twin triumphs against Karolina Pliskova at Eastbourne and Wimbledon last year.
After the defeat to Garcia, the Briton stated that she takes pride in representing her country and will always give it her best, before adding that the defeat did hurt her a little bit.
“I’m [always] going to put everything that I have into every single match for my country. It means everything to me and so much more. Obviously I’m going to take that one to heart and it’s really going to hurt. But I also know the level that I’m playing at right now. I just hope I can use the momentum and keep things going,” Boulter said.
“Sport can be brutal at times” - Anne Keothavong, Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup captain
After losing both singles matches on day one of their tie against France, Great Britain face an uphill task if they are to reach the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
After Caroline Garcia defeated Katie Boulter to put France 1-0 up, Alize Cornet defeated Harriet Dart 7-6(6) 7-6(3), giving France a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five tie.
Despite trailing in the contest, Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong has praised Boulter and Dart for their performances and stated that her team will come back fighting in the remaining matches.
“Sport can be brutal at times,” admitted the British captain. “Both Harriet and Katie should feel proud of their efforts today. It just came down to a few points here and there. You win some you lose some, but we’ve got to get it back together. There’s no time to dwell on the results today. We’ll come back fighting and ready tomorrow morning,” Keothavong said.
Saturday sees two singles matches (Harriet Dart vs Garcia; Boulter vs Alize Cornet) along with one doubles rubber (Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls vs Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic).