Caroline Garcia promises to stay aggressive despite humbling defeat to Ons Jabeur in US Open semi-final

A recent shift to a more aggressive game style saw Caroline Garcia win 13 matches in a row and the Frenchwoman said she has no plan to make any change to her approach despite a crushing defeat to Ons Jabeur in Thursday's U.S. Open semi-final.

In Cincinnati, the last big tune-up event before the U.S. Open, Garcia came through the qualifiers before taking down Maria Sakkari, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula - all three in the top-10 of the women's world rankings.

She also defeated two-time French Open champion and world number one Iga Swiatek on clay in Warsaw in July - all after switching to a more assertive playing style.

But playing her maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Flushing Meadows, Garcia could not muster much of a fight against Wimbledon runner-up Jabeur, going down 6-1 6-3 without managing to create a single breakpoint opportunity during the contest.

"The beginning of the match was not great. Made a few mistakes in important points. The arms and the legs were not moving as great," she told reporters.

"Obviously for my game, if I'm a little bit slower or if I don't go for my shot, mistakes can come very quickly. I tried the best I could. I kept fighting, kept going for it, because I know it's my way to do things. That's what brought me so many victories in the last couple of months.

"I kept fighting for it, even if I was playing sometimes really bad. But it's the way of thinking, and I'm going to keep going that way."

Garcia, 28, was ranked at a career-high fourth in 2018 but slipped down the ladder due to confusion over her approach of play and injury problems.

Since coming back from a foot injury in May, when she was 79th in the rankings, Garcia won a grasscourt event in Bad Homburg, the Warsaw tournament and a WTA 1000 title on hardcourt.

Despite her recent hot streak, Garcia said the defeat to Tunisian Jabeur showed her she has a long list of things in her game to improve on.

"Obviously nerves were there. I think it's pretty normal," she said.

"When I started the tournament in my first round, I was stressed out already. Every match means a lot. You want to win every one of them.

"Obviously today I did know it was semi-finals, so you know what it's bringing you if you win and what you want to achieve. It's a dream since I was a little girl."

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