The smiles on the faces of Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin said it all.
France clinched a thrilling 2-1 United Cup victory against Germany in the early hours of Tuesday morning when Garcia and Roger-Vasselin defeated Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev 7-6(4), 2-6, 12-10. The French stars saved match point at 9/10 in the Match Tie-break and converted their third opportunity.
"Crazy match, crazy end. So happy we got through," Roger-Vasselin, who is his country's playing captain, said. "We had two match points and they saved them with good shots. But really happy. Thanks for the crowd, for the French crowd who stayed that late. I don't know what time it is, but I think it's quite late!"
With a 1-0 record, France can now win Group D by beating Italy on Wednesday. Garcia won two critical points on her serve from 9/10 in the Match Tie-break.
"I think we managed to stay solid and to keep really focussed," Garcia said. "Obviously losing the second set was tough for us after winning the tie-break. But we came back very present in each point. It was a challenge to return Sascha and to try to be ready at the net for the both of us."
World No. 20 Garcia opened her season with a comeback victory over former World No. 1 Kerber, winning 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. The victory leveled France at 1-1 against Germany after Zverev's earlier victory to force the mixed doubles decider.
Germany squeaked by Italy in its first Group D tie, while this was France's 2024 event debut.
Team France: back in business 😎@CaroGarcia defeats Kerber to keep the french hopes alive!#UnitedCup pic.twitter.com/0SOGVS9hXI
— United Cup (@UnitedCupTennis) January 1, 2024
Facing off for the 10th time in their careers and first since 2021, Garcia overcame a perfect opening set of tennis from Kerber, who was bidding to win her first match in 18 months. The 35-year-old German did not hit an unforced error in the 23-minute opening set. Garcia, playing her first match of the season, showed clear signs of rust.
But after struggling to find her range in the opening frame, Garcia pulled in her targets and slowly turned the match in her favour. As Garcia's aggressive returns started landing in, Kerber struggled to hold serve. She did well to wipe out two break points in her opening service game of the second set but was broken for the first time two games later.
With a break in hand at 3-2, Garcia was off to the races. The 2022 WTA Finals champion ran off seven consecutive games to take the second set and lead 4-0 in the third. After winning just 47 percent of her first serves in the first set, Garcia dialed in to win 90 percent in the second set and 79 percent in the third. She faced no break points in the final two sets and sealed the win after one hour and 29 minutes.
With the win, Garcia closed the gap in their head-to-head to 4-6.
In the first match of the tie, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino was two games from earning his first Lexus ATP Head2Head win against Zverev. But two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Zverev rallied past the lefty 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to take a 9-0 lead in their series and give Germany a 1-0 lead against France.
"He's somebody that is very dangerous and very good, especially on these kind of courts where the ball stays low and it goes through the court a lot," Zverev said in the early hours of Sunday morning before facing Mannarino. Those words from the former No. 2 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings proved prophetic.
Zverev had lost just 13 games in his past seven sets against the 35-year-old, but quickly found himself in a battle inside Ken Rosewall Arena. Mannarino used his trademark flat groundstrokes to prevent the German from finding much rhythm. In one moment, he even crushed a slapshot forehand and got the Sydney crowd riled up.
Let´s hear it for Mannarinooooo 🗣🗣🗣@AdrianMannarino | @UnitedCupTennis | #UnitedCup pic.twitter.com/E42d7flOip
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 1, 2024
But when Zverev broke Mannarino's serve to win the second set, the momentum fully tilted to his side of the net. According to Infosys ATP Stats, the 26-year-old converted the two break points he earned and that proved enough.
"Incredible match by Adrian. I mean, the first set and a half I was just kind of hanging on because I had really no way out. He really had me on the ropes," Zverev said. "I kept fighting, saved a few break points in the second set and that helped me kind of. And then he played one loose game, I feel like at 5-4 in the second set and then it went my way."
