Julia Goerges stunned world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to win the Stuttgart WTA claycourt title on Sunday, becoming the first German champion in 17 years.
The 22-year-old Goerges collected only her second career title 17 years after Anke Huber won the second of her Stuttgart crowns in 1994.
“I don’t quite know how I did it,” the German said. “Against Caroline, it is always as if you have to climb a high mountain. Now I have done it, I can’t quite believe it.”
Photo: AFP
Goerges, who sent down 38 winners to Wozniacki’s nine, will now break into the top 30 for the first time in her career.
Wozniacki was stunned in her bid for her fourth title of the year, after wins at Dubai, Indian Wells and Charleston, as Goerges grew in confidence as the final wore on.
“Julia played really well,” the 20-year-old top seed said. “She was very aggressive and everything was going in. I tried everything but it wasn’t enough. I’ll go back to the practice court and try to be better next time.”
Goerges showed no sign of nerves by taking the first set tie-breaker, after building up a 6-2 lead, and then broke Wozniacki in only the second game of the second set.
The Dane failed to cope with Goerges’ strong serve and powerful baseline shots, while the German kept her cool at the crucial stages.
She then served out for a 3-0 lead and never allowed Wozniacki to settle as she kept the Dane under constant pressure, backed by a vocal 4,800-strong crowd who cheered the new champion to her title.
Goerges played way above her new ranking of 27th, which she received yesterday, and she drives off with the winners prize of a brand-new silver Porsche sports car worth US$111,000, which presents her with a luxury problem.
“I haven’t driven a car for three months, maybe I should try it again with a normal car first,” she joked.
Goerges’ success marked a successful week for Germany’s top female players, who enjoyed their best outing in Stuttgart for 27 years.
Four Germans reached the last eight and with Andrea Petkovic set now to be ranked 15th, the host nation will have two top 30 players for the first time since 1999.
“This is great,” said Germany’s Fed Cup captain Barbara Rittner, whose team had white-washed last year’s finalists the USA 5-0 the previous weekend. “It all fitted together just like a jigsaw puzzle for us in Stuttgart.”
GRAND PRIX SAR
AP, FEZ, MOROCCO
Italian veteran Alberta Brianti defeated seventh-seeded Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 6-3 in a rain-hit final of the Grand Prix Sar to earn her first WTA title on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Brianti broke her opponent five times as Halep lost for the second year in a row in the final of the clay-court tournament.
Brianti quickly built a 5-2 lead before a downpour interrupted the match. Halep did better on her return after the rain and rallied to 5-4, but her opponent won three consecutive points to take the set.
After five straight breaks in the second set, Brianti finally held her serve in the ninth game to close out the match.
“It was a very tough match. Simona is a talented player,” said Brianti, who played another final in Guangzhou, China, two years ago.
“We had to stop for the rain but I was able to keep concentrating and win. I was playing good tennis all week, including today. I’m very happy to win my first title,” she said.
Halep, who lost to Czech Iveta Benesova in last year’s final after coming through the qualifiers, was also chasing her first title.
Brianti was surprised to have done so well in Morocco after playing on indoor hardcourts the week before in Moscow, where Italy lost to Russia in the Fed Cup. And she hadn’t won consecutive matches on clay before on the WTA Tour.
“I didn’t expect to win the tournament at all,” Brianti said. “It’s not my favorite surface, but better late than never. I always try to improve my tennis and the last few years I’ve really been playing the best tennis of my career.”
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