Julia Görges’ winning streak was abruptly stopped in the second round of the Australian Open. The world ranked eleventh place went down against Alize Cornet and suffered the first defeat after 15 consecutive victories.
Görges lost 4:6,3:6,3:6 in 1:31 hours to the strong French player, and despite her most recent successful months, she missed the third round of her favorite major for the third time in a row. Fed Cup player Görges won the Tournaments in Moscow, Zhuhai and Auckland across the seasons and was rightly considered a secret favourite in Melbourne.
Cornet, number 42 in the ranking, proved to be an extremely uncomfortable opponent in the Margaret Court Arena. Already in the first three serve games Görges faced several break points – number eight then used Cornet for his own 4:2 lead. The woman from the Electoral Regensburg refused, but gave up her service again at 4:5. 47 minutes later, symptomatically, with her third double fault.
Especially the tough forehand of Görges had an unusual spread. The three-time Melbourne sixteen-finalist made eleven of her 21 unforced mistakes in the opening set with what was otherwise a sure-fire showpiece. Before the start of passage two, the 29-year-old left the court visibly dissatisfied in order to collect herself. But after the sequel Görges could not use another break opportunity in the first game.
Cornet, who had previously lost all five of her duels against Germany’s number one, repeatedly forced her opponent to make mistakes – and did not let up. The preliminary decision was made when Görges won the French woman’s 22nd race. Unforced Errors on the forehand side made it possible to break 5:3. A short time later, the outsider benefited once again from a distorted Görges stroke at her first match point.