Number 7 seed Julia Goerges reached her fifth final of the year with a 6-3 6-3 win over number 5 seed Anastasija Sevastova in the semifinals of the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai taking a re-match against the Latvian player, who won their most recent clash in Mallorca. The German player has extended her winning streak to eight consecutive matches, including her recent title at the Moscow Kremlin Cup.
Both semifinalists came into the semifinal without dropping a set. Both players lost just 15 games en route to winning their respective round robin groups. Goerges led 3-1 in their four head-to-head matches, but Sevastova won their most recent head-to-head match in the Mallorca final 2017 in three sets by 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Goerges got an immediate break at deuce with her cross-court forehand and held at 15 to take a 2-0 lead. In the fifth game Sevastova went down 0-40 but saved three break points to hold her serve for 2-3. After a trade of holds Goerges took a 5-3 lead before breaking for the second time to close out the first set.
During the first set Sevastova had to dig deep in two deuce service games, where she managed to hold after saving break points with service winners. On the contrary Goerges was taken to deuce in two of her three service games, but did not face a break point in the entire match.
Goerges started the second set with a hold of serve and converted her only break point chance to take a 2-0 lead. She consolidated the break in the third game to open up a 3-0 lead. The set went on serve until the end. The only break in the second game was enough for Goerges, who sealed the win with a backhand winner down the line. The German hit 41 winners (including 18 off her forehand) to 18 unforced errors, while Sevastova produced a 22-12 ratio.
Goerges fired five aces to improve her ace tally to 410. She has become the third woman to hit the 400-ace mark in a single season after Serena Williams in 2012-2015 and Karolina Pliskova in 2014-2017.
“We had already quite a battle in the Mallorca final this year. We know each other for a long time and we have a lot of respect for each other”, said Goerges.
