Julia Goerges Completes Semifinal Line-up in Zhuhai

(November 3, 2017) Germany’s Julia Goerges will take on Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in the Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai semifinals on Saturday afternoon after a 62 76(4) win over Kristina Mladenovic in their final Azalea Group match.

Ashleigh Barty of Australia will face American CoCo Vandeweghe in Saturday’s second singles semi-final, scheduled for the evening session. Goerges went on to court against Mladenovic on Friday knowing that winning one set would be enough to earn her a place in the last four of the $2,280,935 (USD) season-ending event in southern China.

The German started strongly, displaying the confidence earned from her recent title win at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Mladenovic dug in during the second set, though, and took advantage of a fractional dip in her opponent’s form to lead 5-3 before Goerges fought back to take the contest in a tiebreaker.

“I really wanted to win that match,” said Georges. “It didn’t matter if I had to win one set, but I don’t want to go out with losing the match and still being in the semifinals. I think that’s a bit weird.”

“My focus was to win that match, to try to do everything to be able to come out on top at the end. After the first set, I lost a bit my focus and a little bit my tension on the body, so I wasn’t as sharp as I was in the first set.”

“Kiki (Mladenovic) took well on it, and she really stepped well into the court and moved me more around, which I didn’t really quite like, because that’s obviously my game. I tried to make sure that I come on top in the tiebreaker, and I think that was, yeah, there were some key moments in that tiebreaker, too.”

“I think it was more the situation today knowing that I have to win one set to be in the semis. I think that’s something which you don’t experience that often. It’s a new situation, I would say.”

Goerges talked about her confidence: “If you have a title on your back, I think it’s nice to carry that around. But actually, once a new tournament starts, everything starts from zero.”

“For sure it does help you to know you have won some matches in the past and you have done probably the right things to win those matches, but as I said, everything starts from zero.”

“We know how tough this competition is. Well, I just try to focus on myself, and it’s nice to finish the matches in two sets, but I don’t mind if I play three or so. But at the end, if I come out on top, I think that’s the most important thing.”

“Well, tomorrow is another tough challenge,” Goerges  said about her upcoming semifinal against Sevastova. We already had a good battle in Mallorca earlier this year. We know each other for a very long time and have a lot of respect for each other.”

“Yeah, she’s a very tricky player, and she has had a great season, as well. Well, it’s just about battling it out tomorrow and the better one should win. At the same time, it’s nice to share the court with her, because we have had a lot of connections in the past.”

“Once she retired for the first time, well, I was pretty sure she’s coming back (smiling) because I kind of know her. Well, I was just glad to be able to share the court with her in Mallorca and to really see how she’s still be there and she still plays finals and still wins titles.”

“Well, tomorrow I hopefully come out on top (smiling) and be able to beat her, but at the end of the day, the better one should win.”

In Friday’s other match so far, Shuai Peng defeated Elena Vesnina 62 10 after the Russian retired hurt with a lower back injury.

HENGQIN LIFE WTA ELITE TROPHY ZHUHAI 2017 – ZHUHAI, CHINA $2,280,935 31 OCT – 5 NOV, 2017
ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2017
STADIUM start 3:00 pm
[3] [WC] C. Liang (CHN) / Z. Yang (CHN) vs [6] Y. Duan (CHN) / X. Han (CHN)

Not Before 4:30 pm
[7] J. Goerges (GER) vs [5] A. Sevastova (LAT)

Not Before 7:00 pm
[2] C. Vandeweghe (USA) vs [9] A. Barty (AUS)
[4] J. Lu (CHN) / S. Zhang (CHN) vs [5] [WC] X. Jiang (CHN) / Q. Tang (CHN)