By Chris Oddo | Sunday January 6, 2019
Julia Goerges rallied from a set down to defeat Bianca Andreescu and complete her title defense at the ASB Classic.
Photo Source: Getty AsiaPac
Bianca Andreescu was a game from completing a fairy tale run to her first career title but Julia Goerges slammed the door shut on the 18-year-old Canadian and bulldozed her way to the title by winning nine of the final ten games.
Goerges successfully defends the title at Auckland and increases her career title count to seven. She becomes the third player to repeat at the ASB Classic and the first since 2004.
The German had to work extremely hard to get past Andreescu, but she went on the offensive and forced the 18-year-old into a physical battle after dropping the first set without too much resistance.
Andreescu, playing her eighth match of the week, put up a valiant fight despite struggling with a hip issue. After she took a medical timeout at the conclusion of the opening set, it became clearer that fatigue would be a factor and the onus was on her to try to close Goerges out in straight sets.
She nearly did so.
Andreescu redoubled her efforts and rallied from 4-2 down to take a 5-4 lead in the second set, but Goerges took her game to another level shortly thereafter by producing a clutch hold to stay alive at 5-all
Goerges then cracked a forehand winner to break for 6-5 and celebrated with gusto before serving out the set to force a decider.
The German was off to the races from there, and Andreescu’s accuracy degraded as her movement suffered.
Goerges ran away with the third set and was never challenged. She clinched the victory and fell to her back, close to tears as the emotions of the moment played in her mind.
The disappointment stung Andreescu, but she quickly wore a smile, proud of her breakthrough week in just her fourth WTA main draw experience despite of falling just short of the title at the last hurdle.