By Adrianna Outlaw | Friday, July 22, 2016
Laura Siegemund advanced to her third semifinal of the season in Bastad where she will face compatriot Julia Goerges.
Photo credit: Getty
German friends will face off for a spot in the Bastad final.
Julia Goerges broke serve three times in the final set rallying past Karin Knapp, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 into the Ericsson Open semifinals.
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It's the third semifinal of the season for Goerges, who partnered Karolina Pliskova to the Wimbledon doubles semifinal earlier this month.
Goerges was runner-up to Sloane Stephens in the Auckland final in January and reached the Nurnberg semifinals in May.
Goerges' victory sets up an all-German semifinal against Laura Siegemund.
In their lone prior pro encounter a decade ago, Goerges was a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victor in the Wahlstedt semifinals.
"She has a great season this year," Goerges said. "It's gonna be another tough match. Nothing is easy here. You need to be focused every single point and every single round. I'm just going to try to do the best I can tomorrow as I've done so far this tournament. There's nothing else I can do.
"It's going to be an interesting match. The better one should win and at least there's going to be one German in the final."
The sixth-seeded Siegemund stopped Spain's Lara Arruaberrena, 7-5, 6-3, in one hour, 42 minutes to advance to her second straight semifinal.
"It was a close match at any point," Siegemund said. "She played really good, especially in second set. She was putting a lot of pressure on me and played unbelievable shots in the end.
"I just tried to find my game and play aggressive from the return on."
Siegemund, who lost to Anastasija Sevastova in the Bucharest semifinals last Saturday, will contest her third semifinal of the season. Siegemund defeated Simona Halep, Roberta Vinci and Agnieszka Radwanska in succession before bowing to Angelique Kerber in the Stuttgart final in April.
Reigning champion and home favorite Johanna Larsson denied another German entry into the final four with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Annika Beck.
The eighth-seeded Swede will face either former French Open finalist Sara Errani or Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova in the semifinals. Larsson is playing for her fourth Bastad final.