Porsche Tennis Grand Prix: Görges in good shape, Siegemund ahead of tricky start

Julia Görges delivered an impressive performance at the Tiebreak event before the start of the tournament – tonight at 6.30 pm, round one really starts. Followed by defending champion Laura Siegemund, who seems fit again. Both games are live on DAZN.

By Florian Goosmann from Stuttgart

Julia Görges did not torch for long. 10:8 against Caroline Garcia, 10:2 against Laura Siegemund, in the final against Angelique Kerber she also stayed up only briefly with two crashed dropshots, put on again and then turned her match point with a volley stop to another 10:8.

But instead of the red Porsche in the right corner of the game yesterday there was something for above the clouds: 1,000,000 bonus miles, with which Görges did not really know what to start with at first. “Even more flying”, she considered during the winner’s interview with Heinz Günthardt, but then found a practical solution. “You can invite your family,” she said. And because of my own vacation “I always wanted to go to the Maldives.”

So Görges has already won the tournament before Monday’s tournament, the “Turkish Airlines Tiebreak”, but it really starts today at 6.30 pm. Instead of the 15 seeded Anastasija Sevastova, who retired on Monday due to illness, now against Czech qualifier Marketa Vondrousova.

If Görges keeps her form of the last weeks and months, she, the winner from 2011, is a logical contender for the title – but like in Stuttgart only one of many, with eight out of ten top ten players at the start anyway. After the messed up Fed Cup match against Petra Kvitova, Görges had already increased her game worlds on Sunday and won against Karolina Pliskova in an impressive manner before giving up in the insignificant double due to abdominal muscle problems – a precautionary measure, as the all-clear was quickly given. “I wanted to be fit this week and take no risks.”

At the tiebreak tournament Görges had a great time, which is apparently no problem on the fast Stuttgart sand. Not only Petra Kvitova will confirm this after her famous Fed Cup appearance, Görges also said on Monday in the press talk: “The underground feels more like a hard court with a layer of sand. That’s why I want to play to the full my strengths that I have on hard court here.”

Titleholder Laura Siegemund is also back in top form. After the cruciate ligament rupture, which put her out of action for almost a year, the way back is a long process. But, and that’s important and good to hear: “I’m not afraid anymore, I’m only busy with the game in the match anyway,” the local hero said on Monday.

Siegemund had returned to a future tournament in Santa Margherita di Pula in March and won two matches there, one in Charleston before losing to Naomi Osaka, but had to give up at the subsequent event in Lugano. However, not because of her knee, but a strain on her calves, which has “completely healed up” in the meantime. On her return, she had “had the good feeling of coming home from the very beginning – I was immediately in my element,” says Siegemund.

In Siegemund’s language, “playing” with the elements also means: this wonderful dialogue with racket, ball and sand, which makes your tennis so lively and gripping to watch. Of course there were also short samples at the tiebreak tournament, even if Julia Görges chose the less humorless variant in the decisive match for the final and shot Siegemund away in part.

According to Julia Görges, Siegemund can also get her first performance in the evening, and fans of the fine blade should get their money’s worth here. Opponent Barbora Strycova also plays with cunning and malice, the duel between the two could become a game for the highlight show, should both come to the court with a good feeling. Siegemund, in any case, already felt the homey way yesterday: “Playing in front of such an audience is simply great,” she enthused.