Kiki Bertens and Julia Goerges reached their first Wimbledon quarterfinal of their storied careers respectively, and this pair of good friends and former doubles partners had to face off in this stage for a place in the semifinals. Bertens showed a good fight and defied her status as a world-class clay-court player by claiming huge wins over Venus Williams and Karolina Pliskova in the week, but her run came to an end after Goerges proved to be stronger with the 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 triumph after an hour and 57-minutes of play.
Goerges retrieved from a set down, gathering up her aggressive play to mount the three-set comeback for the win and set up a blockbuster meeting with the resurgent Serena Williams, having the chance to fight for her maiden Major final appearance.
Bertens stuns Goerges to take the first set
In their first-ever quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon, it was understandable that both players were relatively nervous when they stepped out onto Court No.1 to fight for a place in the last four. Nonetheless, Bertens fired down a powerful ace en route to holding her serve in the opening game of the affair, grabbing the confidence-boosting start. Goerges followed suit with a strong forehand winner which got her onto the scoreboard.
Another tricky service game for Bertens arrived, but the Dutch survived the incoming slaughter from Goerges as the German was misfiring at times, while the world number 20’s controlled aggression worked extremely well against the slightly inconsistent Goerges. The first break point surfaced on Bertens’ serve once more, though the world number 13 failed to convert her chances as Bertens was firing on all cylinders during the crucial moments.
Goerges would rue her missed opportunities as she was immediately broken after; with Bertens stepping up her return and starting to dictate play. Goerges found herself in an unfamiliar territory after being on the defence throughout the majority of the time, and Bertens ultimately served out the first set 6-3 confidently despite being brought to deuce in all but one of her service games.
Goerges fights back and takes the narrow second set
Bertens rode on her momentum and everything seemed to be going the Dutch’s way after she earned a break point in the first game of the second set. Goerges, though, managed to calm herself down and showed some nerves of steel to close out the tight opening game with an ace. After a quick exchange of holds, it was surprisingly the German who managed to draw the first blood and make the first breakthrough, with Goerges sealing the break with a terrific backhand winner.
Goerges then consolidated the break despite being dragged to deuce on serve, firing multiple winners consecutively to grab the commanding 4-1 lead within a blink of an eye. However, Bertens was able to regain her focus and immediately rattled off three games in a row to come out of nowhere and level the scores at 4-4, with Goerges handing off a slew of unforced errors to allow Bertens a way back into the set.
Goerges then earned two set points while Bertens was serving at 4-5, but the underdog rose to the occasion and stepped up her game during the critical moments to narrowly survive the nervy game. Once more, the world number 20 was struggling on her serve and put herself in the exact same dangerous situation at 5-6 down. However, this time Goerges was able to convert her chances and sent the match into a deciding set, hitting 19 winners throughout the competitive set.
Bertens completely falls apart, Goerges peaks to grab the win
For the first time in the match, Goerges did not seem pressurized and went on to claim a commanding service hold which allowed her to assert her authority across the court. Bertens felt the nerves and conceded multiple break points in the second game but rebounded to produce an array of winners to stay in touch with her good friend.
From there, it was one-way traffic as Bertens failed to find her first serves, ending the deciding set with a first-serve percentage of 33 before winning just five points behind her second serves. She was becoming increasingly erratic and Goerges capitalized on her opportunity, losing just two points on her serve in the whole set. Yet another forced error closed out the match for Goerges, who sealed her first appearance in the semifinals of a Major with this terrific victory, showing her emotions on the court after the win.
