Kristina Mladenovic stuns Julia Goerges in the opening round – Open GDF Suez 2013
Local wild card entrant, Kristina Mladenovic, surprised everyone after upsetting seventh seed, Julia Goerges, in a three-set thriller at the Open GDF Suez 2013 on Tuesday. She nudged up a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) victory against the gorgeous German to power into
the second round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event taking place in Paris, France.
The French teenager displayed superb tennis to outclass Goerges in topsy-turvy match in two hours and 43 minutes. After earning the glory in their first encounter, Mladenovic inched closer towards her second career title at this outdoor hard court tournament.
"Playing at this stadium is wonderful, and with people who are close to me here encouraging me, it's just a great victory. It was a very tough match. Julia hits very hard and is a very tough player. It was a tough situation, being down 5-2 in the third set
against a Top 20 player, but there were no secrets, I just had to focus on every point and keep trying, just keep going. I'm so happy I could come out with a win and play at that level. It really was a great victory."
Mladenovic made a convincing entry at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. She drew the first blood in the third game and jumped to a 3-1 lead. Apart from losing her edge in the 10th game, the French got the breakthrough in the very next game and eventually
bagged the opener with a 7-5 win.
The world number 19 rebounded in the proceeding set despite losing her serve in the third game again. She recovered in the eighth game and cashed another break chance in the last game, eventually sealing the equaliser by winning seven games to five.
Ranked 87th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Mladenovic exchanged a break in the deciding set and took it to a tie-breaker. She dominated in it and eventually clicked the decider with a 7-6(4) score line.
The 19-year-old faced 10 aces but clobbered a better first serve share of 58 per cent as opposed to Goerges’ 52 per cent. She also impressively availed 46 out of 65 points on it.
Next in queue for Mladenovic is the conqueror of the match between Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer and the Russian star, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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