Julia Goerges, who was given a main draw wild card, stepped on the Centre Court of the Porsche Arena this afternoon to battle out with Alizé Cornet. The German had never lost against the French woman before and kept this perfect head to head alive, crushing Cornet in 76 minutes.
After tight beginning, Goerges breaks at right moment to snatch first set
It is well known that Goerges loves to play in Stuttgart and she showed it again today. She elected to serve first and was off to a solid start, leading quickly 2-1. The German was the first player to earn break points and was helped by back-to-back double faults to take the first break of the match. Down 30-0 on the Goerges' serve, Cornet reacted straight away with some tremendous defensive shots to break back and even the set at 3-3.
From that moment on, the set was very tight and both women held their serve once again, serving well and keeping their hopes alive in the set. But at 5-4 up, Goerges stepped up her level and offered herself one break point, and more importantly one set point, at 30-40. She made no mistake and concluded the opening set with a magnificent volley winner.
Goerges too strong in one-sided second set
With the first set in her pocket and the support of the crowd, Goerges gained confidence and increased her game a bit more to take the best of Alizé Cornet. She won the first seven points of the set and displayed some amazing skills to break the Frenchwoman in her opening service game. Goerges went on to hold her serve to take a 3-0 lead. At the changeover, Cornet had a nosebleed and took a medical timeout. After 10 long minutes, she was ready to walk on the court again.
Goerges could have lost her concentration, but didn't. She turned the knife in the wound a bit more and broke Alizé Cornet for a second time in this set. Cornet showed some resistance in the 5th game and even had a break back point, but Goerges saved it and went on to consolidate her double break. In the last game, the crowd favorite broke one last time to love to win the match 6-4, 6-0 and secure a spot in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
The match by the numbers
The German was better than Cornet in every aspect of the game today. She hit 23 winners against only 5 for the Frenchwoman. She also fired the only ace of the match while Cornet hit 3 double faults. Goerges won 84% of the points behind her first serve against 54% for her opponent. However, she hit more unforced errors (17 to 13) but it is just a detail compared to all the winners she hit during the encounter.
Goerges sets clash versus Roberta Vinci in second round
After this solid first round win, Julia Goerges will face the 6th seed, Roberta Vinci, in the second round. The Italian took the best of Ekaterina Makarova earlier in the day, beating her after a marathon match 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4.
