A title drought will end for one of Bianca Andreescu or Caroline Garcia in the WTA Bad Homburg final. Andreescu is bidding to win her first title since that stunning US Open success in 2019. While Garcia is looking to lay her hands on a singles trophy for the first time in three years. Who will triumph on Saturday?
WTA Bad Homburg Final Prediction
Bianca Andreescu vs Caroline Garcia
Head-to-head: first meeting
Playing in just her sixth tournament of 2022, Bianca Andreescu is proving you cannot put a good player down for long. The 22-year-old is playing top 10 level tennis this week, finessing her way into the final without dropping a set. Andreescu was tasked with a difficult semifinal against 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. But the Romanian fourth seed announced her withdrawal prior to the match due to a neck injury.
Caroline Garcia, for her part, won the all-French semifinal against Alize Cornet in a two-hour 45-minute slugfest. Garcia had to save a match point at 4-5 in the deciding set, before breaking her opponent in the subsequent game and going on to serve for the match in style. She won 7-6 4-6 7-5 and advanced into her 11th career final.
Andreescu was touted as the future of women’s tennis when she burst onto the scene in the 2019 season. Titles in Indian Wells, Toronto, and the US Open signaled new dawn was fast approaching. But Andreescu’s success was teetering close to being dubbed a flash-in-the-pan story after a spate of injuries. And after a six-month sabbatical that ended in April, she is fit and firing on all cylinders. The crafty Canadian is now starting to get the results that many people knew she was capable of since that sensational run at Flushing Meadows three years ago.
For startling reasons, Garcia will be Andreescu’s biggest hurdle to clear. The Frenchwoman has won both of her two finals on grass (Mallorca in 2016 and more recently at Nottingham in 2019). Garcia’s powerful groundstrokes and an impressive first-serve percentage worked a treat against Cornet. Her one-two punch to save a match point is a case in point. But Andreescu has hardly put a foot wrong this week and has nothing to lose. If the Canadian will maintain her current level, Garcia will need to be at her absolute best to win this–and that may not even suffice.
Prediction: Andreescu in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
