Date: 4/23/2011
Result: Stuttgart SF, Julia Goerges def. Sam Stosur, 6-4 3-6 7-5
Why it matters:
- I mentioned in a previous post that Germany is starving for a champion, and maybe it's Goerges that is trying to be the one. Goerges played a very complete match: she served, used her backhand, kept focused, and stayed tactically sharp from start to finish. The last two are most impressive, as you could see how much it meant to her to win, which usually creates conditions that cause most players to crack under pressure. Her style of play seems suitable for success on hard courts, too, if especially if she serves as well as she did against Stosur (7 aces, won 72% of first serve points).
- For Stosur, no shame in the loss. She got outplayed on the big points, but she really didn't just give away the match - Goerges earned it. However, Stosur did get predictable. Goerges solved Stosur's devastating second serve return where Stosur runs around her backhand to hit inside-out forehands. Goerges spotted Stosur moving early, so she slid the serves into Stosur's forehand and forced Sam into hitting different shots. On return, Goerges also read the kick serve well enough to get into a great returning rhythm. Stosur's shots are incredibly effective on clay, even when predictable. But if she's going to be able to succeed again at the French Open, she needs to be able to mix it up enough that the smartest players won't be able to out-think her when it matters most.
Honorable Mentions:
- Fes SF, Alberta Brianti def. Dinara Safina - w/o - Another sorry end for Safina. She tweeted "hello my tweetis! hadvto pull out today, I thought would feel better after yesterday,but unfortunately not....had a terrible food poison". Some real bad luck once again for the queen of it. For Brianti, her first tour final, and she'll be well rested. Is it time for another breakthrough for an older Italian player?
- Belgrade Qualifying R1, Ervin Eleskovic def. Yen-Hsun Lu - 60 64 - Who? Not to be too mean, but Eleskovic has done NOTHING in his career to make this expected. He's barely won matches at the Challenger level, and just two on tour ever (both in his homeland of Sweden). He'd never beaten anyone in the top 100, let alone someone in the top 50 like Lu, a noted giant killer on multiple occassions. But then you look closely at Lu's resume. First, he's having a rough year. But more interestingly, he is 1-7 on clay... IN HIS ENTIRE TEN YEAR PRO CAREER (the one win in Davis Cup vs. Pakistani Aqeel Khan in 2001). This is INSANE. There's something to be said for knowing your strengths, but with such a large segment of the tour schedule played on clay, it's unbelievable that Lu could avoid it so often, and also be so terrible on it. So maybe this isn't so shocking. Maybe Lu's plan was to enter Belgrade late, play qualies even though he would've easily been able to get directly in the main draw, and learn how to play on clay against the lower ranked guys he should be able to beat. Major backfire.
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