Marion Bartoli edges Julia Goerges in round three – China Open 2012
World number 10, Marion Bartoli, edged the 21st ranked German superstar, Julia Goerges, in the third round clash of the China Open at Beijing. It was a startling contest and the score line didn’t do justice to the 23-year-old
German who dispatched another Top-10 player, Samantha Stosur, just 24 hours before the battle started.
Bartoli won the opening set with ease 6-3 but was grinded by her opponent in the second set. However, the experience French found a way out to handle the onslaught and enforced the tie-breaker. The pressure of performing in the
depth of the second set didn’t allow Goerges to open up and play her natural game. She lost the second set 6(2)-7 but wasn’t deserving of that score line at all.
The 28-year-old French started the first set in a cracking manner. She held her serve to love and broke serve without losing a point in the match. She was cruising along with a lead of 3-0 having lost just one rally from the 13
played. The comeback from the German diva was short live. She held her serve and exposed her thrilling forehand winners to win a breakpoint back but couldn’t hold her serve and gifted the breakthrough again to the ninth seed French.
Another trade of breakpoints didn’t hurt the French who held her serve to love in the final game of the opening set. The frustration on the face of the German star was obvious and the racket smash during the last game of the opening
set clearly depicted that she was gutted with the early loss. The pointers from the coach during the set break helped her a lot in the remaining portion of the match.
Goerges failed to hold serve in the opening game but won a breakthrough in the sixth game to equalize at 3-3. No breakthrough was seen throughout the remaining play of the set despite few enthralling encounters between the two
athletes that raised the tension in the centre. In the tie-breaker, Goerges failed to capitalize on the serves and donated the triumph after battling extremely hard.
Marion Bartoli faces Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarter-final.
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