Garcia stars as France reach United Cup semi-finals

Caroline Garcia showed her versatility and class on Thursday as she won singles and mixed doubles matches to give France a 2-1 win over Norway and book a place in the semi-finals of the United Cup.

The world No 20 had scraped a 6-2, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) victory over world No 544 Malene Helgo to put France ahead and though Casper Ruud levelled with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Adrian Mannarino, Garcia joined forces with Edouard Roger-Vasselin to beat Ruud and Ulrikke Eikeri 7-5, 6-4 to seal the tie.

“It’s so nice, ” Garcia said of playing a team event, in quotes on the United Cup website. “We play an individual sport and a few times in the year we have the chance to represent Team France.

“We are… very far from home and it’s nice in the city already we can see there are so many French. It’s so great to have that many… fans here cheering us on and it’s part of the United Cup I think.”

Mixed doubles win seals it

Garcia and Roger-Vasselin had to do things the hard way in the mixed doubles, saving seven break points out of seven overall.

Ruud and Elkeri had two set points at 5-4 in the first set on the Roger-Vasselin serve but the veteran Frenchman held firm. After taking the set, they eased through the second to set up an intriguing clash with Poland, led by women’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek.

Greece play Germany on Friday for the right to play Australia in the other semi-final.

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