Defending champion Julia Goerges from Germany beat this year’s Australian Open champion Elise Mertens 6-2 7-6 (7-5) in the final round robin match of the Rose Group of the Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai to book her spot in the semifinals after being two points from being knocked out from the tournament.
The German needed a straight-set win after her defeat against Anett Kontaveit in three sets yesterday.
Goerges saved two break points to hold her serve in the first game of the opening set. The German player earned two consecutive breaks in the sixth and eighth games to close out the first set 6-2. Mertens got an early break at deuce and held her serve at love to open up a 2-0 lead.
Mertens, who needed to win a set to reach the semifinal, led 30-15 in the 10th game as she serving for the second set, but Goerges broke back on her second break point to draw level to 5-5. Mertens fended off three match points from 0-40 down, when she was serving at 5-6. Goerges rallied from 3-4 down in the tie-break by reeling off four of the next five points to clinch a straight-set win.
“This win is the best present for my birthday. I will turn 30 tomorrow”, said Goerges in the post-match interview.
Number 9 seed and Australian number 1 player Ashleigh Barty beat this year’s Tianjin champion Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-4 with an early break in each set to improve to 1-1 in the Orchid Group Ranking keeping her hopes of reaching the semifinals alive.
Barty fired five aces and never faced a break point in the match. In The 22-year-old Australian player earned her first break in the fourth game of the first set and never looked in her next service games. She broke for the second time in the third game of the second set.
Number 2 seed and this year’s Beijing finalist Anastasija Sevastova overcame Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai 6-0 7-6 (12-10) in two totally different sets to score her first win in the Camelia round robin Group at this tournament after 1 hour and 28 minutes. The first spot in this group will be decided by the head-to-head match between Sevastova and Garbine Muguruza, who will meet for the fourth time in their careers.
Sevastova earned the first break in a very long opening game to take a 1-0 lead. The Belarusian converted her third break point in a long third game. She broke again in the fifth game to take a bagel win in the first set.
Zhang won her first service game at 15 breaking a losing streak of six consecutive games. After three consecutive breaks of serve from the third game Sevastova took a 3-2 lead. The Latvian player earned three break points at 4-3, but Zhang saved them to hold her serve. Sevastova came two points away from the win, when she was serving for the match at 5-4, but Zhang broke back. Both players set up a tie-break, where Zhang raced out to a 5-1 lead. Sevastova fended off six set points before converting her second match point to score her 43rd match win of the season.
