2011 Mutua Madrid Open: Caroline Wozniacki vs. Julia Goerges – Preview
World number one Caroline Wozniacki will take on Julia Goerges of Germany in the third round of 2011 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open in Spain.
The Dane has been in astonishing form since the start of this season. Since her semi-final loss at the 2011 Australian Open, she has up her game play considerably as she lifted Dubai Duty Free, BNP Paribas Open and Charleston titles in less than three months. The 20-year-old also stood runner-up at Qatar Ladies Open and Porsche Tennis Championships.
At the Madrid Masters, Wozniacki made an emphatic start by downing Japanese Ayumi Morita in straight sets. In the second round play of the WTA red clay courts tournament she eased past Bojana Jovanovski 6-4, 6-4. Her on-court agility and speed has created all sorts of problems for her opponents. The self-belief and confidence has allowed her to play her natural game freely as she now bids for her fourth WTA title of this season.
Goerges made a very positive start to the running season by reaching semi-finals at Auckland. The German then reached the third round of 2011 Australian Open. Since then she has give significant results on the WTA tour though Goerges best performance was recorded at Porsche Grand Prix Tennis Championships where she shocked Caroline Wozniacki to claim second title of her career. Her confidence will be certainly sky-high after her stunning victory over the world number one player.
"I don't quite know how I did it. Against Caroline it feels like you always have a mountain to climb and I did it."
Commenting on the match, Wozniacki said, "Julia played very well, very aggressive and the balls were going in. I tried everything but it did not work. I'll have to go back on the practice court and make things better. Hopefully we will have many more matches in the future."
However, if Goerges wants to achieve similar results her at Madrid she will have to bring more improvement in her game. The German, who has special liking for the clay surface, has struggled to find her peak so far at the tournament. She came back from a set deficit against Kaia Kanepi in her opening match 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4. Her abilities were again tested against Dinara Safina but she held on to her nerves to secure victory in three tight sets.
Considering Wozniacki recent performances on the tour, she is the clear favourite for this clash. She will be hoping to avenge her defeat against Goerges at Stuttgart final. Goerges on the other hand will be feeling confident having defeated Wozniacki only a few days back and will be hoping to put up a similar show here at Madrid.
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