Caroline Garcia defeats Stephanie Nauta in Girls’ Singles second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Second-seeded, Caroline Garcia moved to within three victories of realising her greatest ambition here yesterday, when she swept into the third round of Wimbledon Championships with another awe-inspiring performance.
The 17-year-old Frenchwoman needed just 54 minutes to brush aside the challenge of Stephanie Nauta of America, winning 6-2, 6-3 in a match she controlled from start to finish.
The American player was never a match for the second-seeded Garcia, though she had been growing in stature with every round she played. As for the Frenchwoman, she did not offer as big a threat as Tereza Smitkova but she still
had to be put away.
Nauta looked weary from her earlier exertions, though that had as much to do with Garcia’s excellence and brilliance. From early in the match Nauta was looking in despair, unable to figure out how to search a way past her opponent.
Garcia’s second serve in the opener proved to the major weapon, but if French woman had the weakness it was her limited break point conversion rate, which Nauta targeted to good effect and leading the opener 2-1. However, the American
easily let that lead go, being unable to do away with the mighty resistance.
Given second-seeded French’s agility and phenomenal speed around the court, Nauta’s best chance to go for her shots quickly faded away as the Frenchwoman did not allow her to come forward as her French opponent utilized her two-handed
backhands to devastating effect, winning the opener six game to two in just 25 minutes of play.
After losing the opener, Nauta had already observed the potency of Garcia’s shot making and she fully realised that her approaches had to be of the highest quality, if she desired any success. Looking for the right opportunity,
Nauta quickly came into her stride, hitting four consecutive aces to hold her opening service game to love. While Nauta was holding her serve with plenty to spare, Garcia went on to break the American with some wonderful defence.
It was not long before that the French woman had re-established her authority, winning the second set with a whopping thirteen winners to go one set to love in just twenty nine minutes.
Emerging victorious, Garcia has improved her year-to-date win/loss mark to 12/8 matches and now marches on into the third round of the Wimbledon Championships where she will the thirteenth-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
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