French Caroline Garcia (4th in the world) was eliminated in the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome by Colombian Camila Osorio (100th in the world), 6-4, 6-4, during a match disrupted by rain.
Launched nearly two hours behind the initial schedule due to very capricious weather, the match was interrupted for just over an hour at the start of the second set. This forced break did not allow the 29-year-old Frenchwoman, already trailing 6-4, 1-1, to restore order in a disjointed tennis, marred by numerous unforced errors and missed volleys.
Again broken at 3-3 in the second round and very annoyed, Garcia, the last Frenchwoman in the running in the women’s draw, could do nothing to prevent this new premature elimination at this complicated start to the year for her. The Frenchwoman never managed to find her rhythm, not helped by the rain which had led to a first brief interruption in the first set. In the fourth game, the two players had been forced to observe an enforced break of several minutes, sitting on their chairs under an umbrella, to wait for a heavy downpour.
Exempted from the 1st round, Garcia had hardly beaten the Romanian Ana Bogdan (59th) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the 2nd round. Just over two weeks before Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11), and despite the return to her side in April of coach Bertrand Perret, who had accompanied her in her breathtaking 2022 season, she had already suffered a lot against to an opponent who served for the game at 5-4 in the third set.
Irregular since the start of the year, Caroline Garcia has not managed to chain three victories in a row since the Monterrey tournament in early March, where she lost in the final against the Croatian Donna Vekic. With the elimination of Garcia, seeded N.5, the women’s tournament in Rome has already lost four of the five members of its “Top 5” already orphaned by Aryna Sabalenka (N.2), Jessica Pegula (N.3) and Ons Jabeur (N.4).