France's Caroline Garcia has won the WTA Finals final for the first time in her career.

The 29-year-old tennis player defeated Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in Fort Worth, Texas, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. After Amélie Mauresmo, Garcia is the second French woman to win the tournament of the best eight tennis players of a season. Garcia is also the oldest winner since Serena Williams won in 2014 at the age of 33.

She was very moved after her success and dedicated the triumph to all the people she had met in the past. "I've met a lot of people along the way. Some are here - some who met me when I was a 12-year-old girl and helped me become a better person and a better player," Garcia explained. She will finish the season as world number four. The French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" ran the headline in its online edition on Tuesday morning after the match: "The Coronation".

Sabalenka had surprisingly won against Iga Swiatek in the semifinals the day before. The Pole had previously not lost 15 games in a row against an opponent from the top 10 in the world rankings.