Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six…not 12, not 13, not 14…. No, Julia Goerges has won an amazing 15 matches in a row heading into second-round action at the Australian Open on Wednesday night. Goerges ended last year with consecutive titles in Moscow and Zhuhai before beginning the 2018 campaign with a triumph in Auckland.
“It’s just a number,” the 29-year-old German said of her 15 consecutive wins. “It’s nice that it’s going, but I’m just focusing from one round to the other and trying to put my performance there and trying to improve with every match I’m playing…. “I was quite surprised that I could start the season the same way as I have ended the last one. I’m just very happy that I could start the season the way that I’m doing it now.
The streak started this past fall in Moscow, where Goerges picked up five match victories and beat 28th-ranked Daria Kasatkina in the final. In Zhuhai, she did not drop a single set the entire way while beating Magdalena Rybarikova, 10th-ranked Kiki Mladenovic, Anastasija Sevastova, and Coco Vandeweghe. The offseason did nothing to slow Goerges’ momentum, as the current world No. 12 returned by lifting the Auckland trophy and losing only one set in the process. She bookended it with defeats of 2016 Rio Olympics singles gold medalist Monica Puig in the first round and now-world No. 2 Carolina Wozniacki in the title match.
Early indications are that Goerges is not slowing down in Melbourne. She began her fortnight by cruising past American teenager Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-4 on Monday afternoon.
Things may get trickier in round two, as veteran Alize Cornet awaits Goerges on Wednesday night. The 27-year-old Frenchwoman just barley missed out on an Australian Open seed with a ranking of No. 38, and she beat Xinyu Wang 6-2, 6-2 on Monday. Cornet has advanced to the fourth round at three of the four Grand Slams (not the U.S. Open) and did so at the Australian Open 2009. But she is a hopeless 0-5 lifetime against Goerges and 1-10 in total sets.
“Well, she’s a tough opponent, I think [like] everyone here in the draw,” Goerges insisted. “They are only the best ones (in a Grand Slam draw). I have played her a lot of times. We have actually practiced a lot of times. It’s going to be a tough one. The main thing is for me to focus on my game, and try to create some good opportunities to really be aggressive, as well.”
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Görges’ winning streak is quite surprising, and right now she’s ranked higher than two-time slam winner Kerber. Görges has done well at the AO many years ago. If I remember correctly she reached the quarters, and she was nicknamed “Gorgeous Goerges” by the English speaking fans, who decided to drop the umlaut. But at the time she wasn’t able to live up to her early promisses and was soon overtaken by Kerber and for a while by Petkovic and Sabine Lisicki, too. Germany seemed to sport a gread women’s squad, but it never came quite together for them – except for Kerber, who wasn’t even considered the strongest of the troop a couple of years ago.
I’m surprised that Görges is doing so well many years after her early success. Her draw isn’t bad at all and certainly easier than Kerber’s who’s on an impressive winning streak herself. But if Kerber wins against Vecic she has to get past Sharapova in the third round and that might prove tricky. And things don’t get much easier for her. Her section is a veritable shark tank. Therefore, Görges has a fair chance to progress farther than Kerber. In Germany they dream already of an all-German final. But a lot of things have to go right for this. But it’s certainly true that Kerber and Görges have been the most successful women lately. We will see what happens…
Good for her!!…she’ll beat Cornet.