Julia Goerges battles back to beat Jie Zheng in round three – Australian Open 2013
World number 18, Julia Goerges, escaped a scare against the 40th ranked Chinese professional, Jie Zheng, in an emphatic three-setter during the third round of the Australian Open at Melbourne. The 24-year-old German
survived the two hours and 12 minutes onslaught of her rival to register a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory.
Goerges stamped her authority early in the encounter by clasping a breakpoint in the second game and took a resounding lead of 5-1, courtesy to another break of serve. She was on course to win the opening set in just seven games
but a little cameo from the 29-year-old Chinese denied her from rounding off the first phase until the ninth game.
Zheng needed a strong start in the second set and she had one courtesy to a couple of successive breakthroughs that were protected by a serve hold brace. She led the scores 5-0 and almost registered a bagel before the 18th
seed German restored some respect by holding on to her serve but she couldn’t prolong the defence and the deciding battle was enforced.
The 40th ranked Chinese drew the first blood in the final set by breaking her opponent’s serve in the fifth game that featured five deuces. The scores moved on to 5-4 in her favour and she prepared to serve for the match
in the 10th game of the final set. Everything looked to follow the Chinese at that time but out of nowhere the German star regrouped and powered down her rival who couldn’t absorb the scoreboard pressure.
Scores were levelled at 5-5 and Georges faced no trouble in holding on to her serve to survive the scary game. On the other hand, Zheng faltered again fell into the trap of her rival who gathered four straight points to break the
serve for the second time on the trot.
The comeback from the 24-year-old German was an absolute treat to watch and received a huge round of applause towards the end of the match. Goerges was absolutely thrilled by her performance and her trade single fist-pump celebration
followed her last few blows.
Goerges stated in an on court post-match interview, “It was a great match from both of us. It could have gone either way. We had tough rallies, good shots and good winners.”
Next up for Julia Goerges is another Chinese superstar, the sixth ranked Li Na. It will be the first time that Goerges will be playing a superior ranked player in this year’s edition of the Australian Open.
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