2018 WTA Rivalries to look forward to: No. 2

As much as Serena Williams has been missed on the WTA tour, her absence has produced some intriguing plot lines and scintillating rivalries that could continue into next season. Baseline will countdown the favorite rivalries of 2017—and here’s hoping we see more chapters in 2018.

See No. 3 here.

2

Head-to-head record: Garcia leads 1-0

Not long ago, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenvoic could be seen on the same side of the net high-fiving each other as doubles partners. Now they are heading on divergent paths—in more ways than one.

It’s been a tale of two halves for these doubles-partners-turned-bitter-rivals. The first half of 2017 was good to Mladenovic; she reached three finals and made the quarterfinals of the French Open, notching gutsy wins over Jennifer Brady and Garbine Muguruza en route. The second half of the season has been far less kind. She ended it in a 12-match losing streak.

Meanwhile, her former doubles partner Garcia finished the season ranked inside the Top 10 for the first time at No. 8. After a scintillating fall that saw her capture the Wuhan and Beijing titles, Garcia has entered a new stratosphere among the tennis elite.

If and when these two meet next year, the bad blood that erupted in the aftermath of their split could spill onto the court.