French tennis star Caroline Garcia believes having the crowd on your side can definitely be a very helpful tool. This week, Garcia is competing in front of her home fans in Lyon. Garcia, seeded at No 1, found herself in a potentially tricky situation on Thursday but recovered from a set down to beat Alison van Uytvanck 2-6 6-0 6-1.
After Garcia went down by a set, the Lyon crowd stood behind the home favorite and the top-seeded Frenchman dominated the rest of the match. “It’s important (to use the crowd), we are at home, we are in Lyon. That’s also why I want to play there, to have the support of the crowd and experience moments that you don’t have the opportunity to experience elsewhere.
For me it is a help, it gives me energy. Sometimes you have to push it a little more, it can put a little pressure on the opponent so you might as well use it as an advantage,” Garcia said, per We Love Tennis France.
How Garcia beat van Uytvanck
Garcia made a slow start to the match as she got broken in the very first game of the first set.
Down by an early break, Garcia nearly went down by a double break but she managed to save a break point in the third game and cut the deficit to 2-1. Van Uytvanck maybe didn’t get her second break in the third game but she broke Garcia again in the fifth game to open a 4-1 lead, before serving out for the opener in the eighth game.
After a very slow start to the match, Garcia absolutely dominated the second set as she didn’t drop a single game en route to forcing a decider. A bit stunningly, Garcia then dropped her serve in the first game of the third set.
However, getting broken early didn’t impact Garcia, who responded by winning six games in a row to complete her comeback win in style. It was the fourth meeting between the two as Garcia now leads their head-to-head 3-1.
