Two matches, one day, two wins, one upset, four sets, twelves aces: these are a lot of figures but they are all positive for the 28-year-old German, Julia Goerges, who managed to earn her place in the quarterfinals of the tournament thanks to wins over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Naomi Broady.
Goerges delivers a brilliant match to upset the 6th seed of the tournament, Pavlyuchenkova, in the first round
For her 2017 debut, Julia Goerges had to battle out with the 6th seed of the event, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, to get through to the second round. She started off the match in the best of the ways, holding her serve in the opening game with huge groundstrokes. The Russian was put in danger very early as the Goerges' returns were close to perfection. After a lot of break points wasted, the German eventually got the first break of the match in the 8th game to go 5-3 up in the opening set. She did not falter when she had to close the set out and snatched the first set six games to three.
In the second set, the last year finalist delivered a perfect game very early on to go one break up. In the 4th game, Goerges had to save three break back points but she stayed solid and saved them all, helped by her big first serves. From that moment, the German was never worried again on her serve. Pavlyuchenkova displayed some great groundstrokes skills but never managed to get the break back that she needed. Goerges earned her first match points at 5-3 up on the Pavlyuchenkova serve but the Russian fought back to hold her serve. In the last game, the unseeded player stayed strong and finished the match off with a last huge serve to complete the upset.
Three hours later, Goerges steps on the court again to knock out Naomi Broady in straight sets as well
The battle of the big servers did not disappoint the local crowd. Both players showed off their best serves skills and there was hardly any break point opportunities before eight games. At 3-3, Goerges was helped by a lack of first serves by Broady to snatch the first break of the match. Unworried on her serve until then, the German showed signs of uncertainty when she was a break up. From 3-3 to 5-6, there were 5 straight breaks of serve which was very surprising considering the fact that Goerges and Broady are among the best servers of the women's tour. Nevertheless, the German pulled herself together in the 12th game and managed to steal the first set without having to play a tiebreak.
In the second set, the tough windy conditions seemed to affect Broady's game as she could barely move on the court. Fortunately, always helped by a huge serve, she managed to stand up to her opponent for quite a moment. From her side, Goerges seemed really fit and was not worried one second in this second set. In the ninth game, the German eventually got the first break of the set and went on to close the match out on her own serve the game after. Her consistency surely made the difference in the match, winning 83 percent of the points behind her first serve and 54 percent of the points behind her second serve.
Caroline Wozniacki looms in the quarterfinals
The last year finalist will have to battle out with Caroline Wozniacki, the 3rd seed, for a place in the semifinals of the event. They have already played each other 8 times and they are tied at 4-4 with Goerges winning the last encounter at the French Open in 2015. However, Wozniacki won their last encounter on hard court in Auckland the same year, which will render things more complicated for the German.