Agnieszka Radwanska was the first seed ousted from the Western and Southern Open Tuesday. Germany’s Julia Goerges delivered winners an aces in her final game against the tenth seed that gave her the 6-4, 6-4 win on Stadium Three at the Linder Family Tennis Center.
The two met four times with Radwanska winning their most recent meeting back in 2015. The world number ten has held well against the German and in a new tournament, she would do so again. Last week she lost in the third round at Toronto while Goerges had fatigue playing a role in her early exit at the Rogers Cup. With two weeks till the final Grand Slam, both Radwanska and Goerges sought an excellent start to the week.
In a surprise start, the German took control heavily against Radwanska who had found her way into gear. The Polish star was taken for a ride as Goerges ran the Polish star for a break on deuce before consolidating it with a hold and a double break. Just when it looked to be a shocking runaway, the offense of the world number ten appeared and got to work closing the gap. It was quickly down with hold and double break of her own. With the set tied at three all, it was up to the tenth seed to hold her own and take point.
It was the path she remained consistent on as she captured a fourth straight victory looking like herself on court. Seeing that her opponent was coming back with rage, Goerges decided she had enough of the pace and redirected the momentum back her way. She leveled on serve, then broke Radwanska in the ninth to get a chance at serving out the match. She pulled off an amazing comeback with a clean service game in the tenth with a winner that finished the first set in 39 minutes. The 29-year-old had the edge on Radwanska when it came to first serve points and returns that gave her the mark of dictating further on.
The first to act in the second was Radwanska who needed to show strength in response to her opponent. It was a two-game lead but by the fourth, Goerges had evened the score making it a very difficult day for the tenth seed. It was a tug of war for possession with the world number ten setting the bar each game she held serve on.
The game changer arrived in the ninth as the attacks from Goerges were becoming fiercer as the set got closer to the finish line. The German acted strongly on the break in the ninth to serve for the match and a big upset on the court. She put together an ace to begin play followed by a great setup volley for 30-0. It was all but over for Radwanska as she watched Goerges fire off another ace and winner to complete her straight sets victory in 1 hour and 37 minutes.
With heavy adversity out of the way, the 29-year-old German would get an even match playing the winner of Francois Abanda and Polish star Magda Linette in the second round.
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