By Chris Oddo | Saturday October 20, 2018
Julia Goerges eased past Belinda Bencic to claim the Luxembourg title, her second of 2018.
Photo Source: Luxembourg Open
Julia Goerges came through a hard-fought battle with resurgent Belinda Bencic in Luxembourg, holding her serve and nerve to notch a 6-4, 7-5 victory in the final.
The German claims her sixth career title, and second of 2018, with a stellar serving performance in which she never faced a break point against the 21-year-old World No.47.
It was tight from the start with Georges breaking through with a wicked forehand return winner on her only break point of the opening set—the German held her serve the rest of the way to take the tense opener.
Goerges dropped just five points on serve in the opening set, and she did not let up in the second, winning 18 of 20 first serve points and never facing a break point.
Still, things were tense in set two. Bencic saved a pair of break points in the opening game, the second with one of her four aces on the day, and kept holding until 5-all. But Goerges worked her way into a winning position again in the 11th game of the set and finally broke through on her fifth break point of the stanza to claim the 6-5 lead.
Goerges completed her excellent performance in the next game, converting her second championship point with a booming forehand winner that kissed the line.
Goerges improves to 2-1 lifetime against Bencic and 44-21 on the season.