World No. 4 Caroline Garcia of France won the WTA Finals championship with a commanding 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Aryna Sabalenka.

After Serena Williams, who won the WTA Finals at age 33 in 2014, the 29-year-old from Lyon became the oldest champion with her victory on Monday night.

“It’s definitely a lot of giant happiness. A crazy final, a lot of intensity on every point. Just really proud of the work we did through all the year. It was a great match — really went for it. I’m really happy to win my biggest title”, said Garcia, who clawed her way out of a group including top-ranked Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Daria Kasatkina.

Garcia follows Amelie Mauresmo, who defeated her countrywoman Mary Pierce in 2005, as the second Frenchwoman to win the competition.

While Swiatek was eliminated in the semi-finals, Sabalenka, who was ranked seventh, was attempting to become the first player from Belarus to win the WTA Finals.

In the opening 12 games of the first set against Garcia, Sabalenka’s serve was almost faultless. Only one double fault occurred, and she actually won more second serves than first serves. But in the tiebreak, two errant backhands put her in a tight spot, and as a result of her frazzled state, she committed two double faults.

The second one ended the set and, effectively, her chances for victory — especially when Garcia broke her to open the second set. It was the only break point of the match.

“I’m not going to say thank you to my team because it’s so many double faults, you guys are such a bad team — no, no, no, I’m joking,” Sabalenka said.

And then she got emotional, tears coming to her eyes.

“It’s been a challenging year for us. Thank you so much for your support,” she added.

Garcia, too, was moved by the match. She’ll finish the year at No.4, equaling a career best.

“Sometimes you are emotional or things don’t go your way. I mean, sometimes there is a big fight, so you have to find your way through it. Some points, where you cannot do anything. You just try to put in the return and to run as fast as you can to the other side,” said Garcia.

“And that was one of the biggest points I improved. Today one of the most important things was to stay calm and jump on every opportunity,” she added.

(inputs from IANS)