Julia Goerges survives Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening clash – Dubai Championships 2012
German tennis icon, Julia Goerges, registered her first head-to-head win against the Russian contestant, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the first round clash of the Dubai Duty Free Championships. A contest of two hours and 15 minutes
ended with nothing at all to spare between the two contestants who had fought till their last breath. Final scores were 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 in favour of the German.
It was never an easy task for the 19th ranked German who dig deep to book a spot in the second round draws. She had lost two earlier head-to-head battles against the Russian in the opening round of
US Open 2009 and Qatar Total Open 2007 but this time she fought like a warrior and registered a triumph in style.
In a post-match interview, Goerges happily stated, “It wasn’t best beginning of me, but one of the best beginnings of her probably. She just kind of overwhelmed me with her shots. Then I just tried to get back into the match
somehow, playing more balls in the court, and fighting for every ball. I got my chance and I took it.”
The match started with a successful breakthrough for the Russian who continued to hammer the German for the rest of the set. She broke serve for the second time in the fifth game and took an unassailable lead of four games
with scores cruising to 5-1. Goerges could hardly settle in the atmosphere and the Russian had already taken a comprehensive first set lead.
Nothing changed for Goerges in the second set and her serve was again broken in the opening game. An intense fight witnessed both players tying the scores at 3-3, with Goerges winning a break back. Both players swapped breakpoints
with scores further progressing to 4-4.
It looked like the Russian will take hold of the situation but Goerges doggedly kept fighting and enforced a tie-breaker round to decide the second set. An initial mini-break to the German helped her to crush her opponent
in the second set and extend the match further.
Kuznetsova was rocking the show with her power play and Goerges always had to fight back from behind. The final set witnessed the same scenario with the Russian bullying her opponent but the German didn’t lost heart and held
all of her serve games.
Her efforts were rewarded when the Russian lost temper and got frustrated on her dismal return in the ninth game. It created an opening for the German who ousted her opponent and earned the most crucial breakpoint of the
match.
Goerges’s stirring fight helped her to set up a date with the world number one, Victoria Azarenka, in the second round clash of the tournament.
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