By Chris Oddo | Friday October 19, 2018
Canada’a Eugenie Bouchard was serving for a spot in the Luxembourg final and two points from victory on Friday, but Julia Goerges refused to give up the chase.
The German engineered a break and proceeded to reel off nine games on the trot to lead 4-0 in the final set in a stunning turnaround that took her to the brink of victory.
Top-seeded Goerges would push through from there, sealing her 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1 victory over Bouchard to improve to 1-1 lifetime against the Canadian.
Goerges will bid for her sixth career title on Saturday when she faces Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the final.
Bencic also came through in dramatic fashion, pushing past rising teenager Dayana Yastremska, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).
Yastremska saw her eight-match winning streak end, but she had chances to win as she held a break lead late in the third.
Bencic would break back for 4-all and the pair would produce four holds to take the match to a deciding-set tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker was electric, with Yastremska jumping out to a 4-2 lead at the changeover before Bencic battled back to lead 5-4. Yastremska leveled but Bencic took the final two points before breaking down in tears when she clinched the victory in two hours and 20 minutes.
“Credit to Dayana, she played amazing,” said Bencic after the win. “Maybe just one percent more energy or something—a little bit of luck—I don’t know, I think we both deserved to win.”
Yastremska left it all on the court, hitting 45 winners against 28 unforced errors, while Bencic weathered the storm with patience and solid tactics, at times taking advantage of her opponent’s desire to rush a bit too much.
The Swiss finished with 12 winners and 18 unforced.
Bencic and Goerges have split their previous two meetings but have not met since 2015.