Julia Goerges earned a very strong win that earned her another title at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open Sunday. Despite a very hard fight from Belinda Bencic, the number one seed kept an edge from start to finish to win 6-4, 7-5 on Stadium Court at CK Sportscenter. It was the sixth career title for Goerges and the second since Auckland. Bencic earned the honor of playing an incredible week of tennis coming from the opening rounds of qualifying to make it all the way to the end.
The two met back in 2015 with the German winning on the hard courts of the Australian Open giving her the edge coming into one of the last WTA final of the season. Bencic has a win over Goerges as well and with her seven-match winning streak in hand after gloriously taking down Dayana Yastremska, the former top ten Swiss star would go for it all against the number one seed. She hasn’t won a final since 2016 making her epic quest so important for her to keep going.
She showed her strengths early in the set holding Goerges to love on serve that got them into the groove. The number one seed answered but not with the same force as her opponent. She managed to stay with the 21-year-old who was determined to find the break at some point. Goerges found it right away playing Bencic’s great first serve with a crosscourt return that had her beaten in the fifth.
The Swiss qualifier called out her father who told her to find a way to counter Goerges’s response and send back one of her own. It didn’t come against the German’s serve as she adjusted the strategy and consolidated the break with a two-game margin. The 21-year-old knew a defense of her serve would have to come together to avoid a bigger gap. Despite having to go to deuce on Goerges push, she held the first break to get back within one. The 29-year-old remained firm in her quest to capture the set giving Bencic a single point in the eighth.
With her serving to stay alive in the set, the 21-year-old held but had to deal with the German’s impressive service game that clinched her the first in 36 minutes. While both were even on double faults and aces, the edge went to Goerges who scored 15 winners with most of them coming against Bencic’s service. While she had more unforced errors, it remained a comfortable victory for her to be a set up.
It continued to be an uphill fight for the young Swiss star as she battled on serve to force deuce with the 29-year-old who had clearly made a stance in the match. Bencic had a great hold to gain the AD point and locked down the victory. Goerges made her hold look easy but knew that she would have to continue to match what Bencic put together. During the break between the third and fourth games, Bencic was denied a chance to speak to her coach sending her into an angry rant with the umpire. After trying to get it overturned by the court supervisor, she was forced to continue playing with a lot of anger inside.
She was unable to produce a hold with that energy and instead used it to keep herself together on serve in the fifth. Another argument between the umpire ensued as a return while down 0-40 hit the roof and landed on the court. They had to replay the point which sent Bencic into a tirade. Despite picking up the lost point, Goerges held to level the score at three-all as they inched closer to the determination of the set.
Bencic continued to keep some focus together that allowed her to hold against Goerges putting pressure on the number one seed to match her. The German fired off two aces and a pair of winners before she committed an error. She remained poised to keep things really tight with Bencic who showed slight vulnerabilities in the competition. The Swiss star didn’t show any in the ninth as she created ways to force Goerges to error the returns into the net giving her a shot to break and force a decider. The number one seed wouldn’t let that happen answering with winners where she recorded her 30th of the match before leveling the score at five all.
Goerges hunted down the chance to break Bencic but a serve to force deuce came at the right time to give her back control of the game. Getting by Goerges on her serve in the 11th was another story as she managed to force deuce but was beaten back when she had the AD point on three occasions. When it all came falling apart, Bencic threw her racket for a second time receiving a warning for it. Bencic was on the verge of defeat as the German easily attained three match points. One was saved by a wide return giving the Swiss star some life to fight but a second return that looked wide brought a close which gave the 29-year-old another title victory in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
With 280 points in her pocket, the German would get no rest as she entered the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai which she won last year. Bencic would hold on to this moment to try and build a strong showing in the 2019 WTA season.
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