Defending champion Julia Goerges suffered a bruising defeat to Anett Kontaveit yesterday at the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China. The fifth seed took a nasty tumble midway through the match, which she went on to lose 2-6, 6-4, 4-6 after more than two hours.
Kontaveit, the tournament 10th seed, started brightly, breaking the world No. 14 three times to take the opening set.
Goerges, 29, fell heavily onto the hard court in the sixth game of the second set, and needed to ice her right leg during the changeover.
Photo: AFP
Clearly slightly rattled, the German nevertheless dug deep to claim the set, pumping her fist and gesturing to her coach as she celebrated.
However, it was the 22-year-old Estonian Kontaveit who won the decider at the Hengqin International Tennis Center.
World No. 20 Kontaveit has now played both her round-robin matches, after losing on Tuesday to Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who is to play Goerges later in the tournament.
China’a No. 1 Wang Qiang has been left “really tired” at the end of a punishing season on the WTA tour and believes she has played “too many matches.”
The world No. 22 has been on a spectacular run of form that has seen her leapfrog Zhang Shuai to become China’s top singles player.
However, the grueling schedule at the season’s climax has left the 26-year-old feeling fatigued — mentally and physically.
“It’s really too much,” she said at the WTA Elite Trophy on Tuesday. “Too many tournaments for me, too many matches. Especially the last two months.”
Wang won the Guangzhou Open in September, her second career title after beating compatriot Zheng Saisai at the Jiangxi Open in July.
She made the semi-finals at the Wuhan Open, but had to retire with an injury.
She impressed again last month by staging an outstanding comeback to defeat former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza to reach her first Hong Kong Open final.
Asked about her eye-catching season, the soft-spoken Asian Games champion, who is playing in Zhuhai for the first time, said: “I’m so happy to be here and play this tournament, but now, mentally and my body is really tired, so after this one I will go on holiday.”
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