Borna Ćorić and Caroline Garcia both make history with title wins at the Cincinnati Masters. Photo: Tom O’Keefe, WCPN
By Tom O’Keefe
Cincinnati
They will be the first women to win a career major at the Masters.
It was just six years ago that Ana Ivanovic won the French Open tennis title at age 28. She finished the year at #1 in the world, was named U.S. Open Woman of the Year, and has won six Grand Slam singles titles since then.
At age 28, Caroline Garcia won a career-high title at Cincinnati, becoming the first women to win a career major at the Masters.
Garcia’s victory at the 2016 U.S. Open also ranks as the most recent U.S. Open singles final for the first time, having previously been the most recent Women’s Doubles final the tournament has had.
Garcia and Borna Ćorić both won Cincinnati Masters titles, just the second time in the tournament’s three-year history that a doubles match was the lead-off match in a singles final.
Garcia and Borna Ćorić tied for second with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over American Sam Groth and Caroline Garcia at the 2016 U.S. Open. Photo: Tom O’Keefe, WCPN
Borna Ćorić and Caroline Garcia each have the longest win-loss record of the three women in the Cincinnati Masters finals at the U.S. Open, with Ćorić, a former World No. 1 at age 23, going 15-1 on the year, and Garcia with 13-0.
Borna Ćorić is the only player to have won at the U.S. Open as it was taking shape in Cincinnati in 1894, when her great uncle, Danilo di Serafino, won for the first time and ended the year at No. 1.
Caroline Garcia is in her fifth year at the U.S. Open, and her record in singles is 11-3. Her only doubles title was at the 2016 U.S. Open.
The women’s matches in Cincinnati had been previously led to the finals by Men’s matches at the 1987 and 1998 U.S. Opens, and for the Women’s final in 1992.