Julia Görges messed up her dress rehearsal for the French Open in Paris. The German number one from Bad Oldesloe lost to Czech Kristyna Pliskova 2:6, 7:6 (10:8), 6:7 (5:7) at the WTA tournament in Nuremberg.
Görges was in second place, but could not meet expectations. Last week she skipped the clay court tournament in Rome.
After the strong final spurt in 2017 and the successful start to the season this year, Görges (29) has recently lost some ground. At the beginning of April the world ranking eleventh in Charleston/South Carolina had still reached the finale, on the European clay court tour the defeats accumulated afterwards. At the home tournament in Stuttgart, Görges lost for the start, in Madrid it was enough for the round of 16.
At the Nuremberg Insurance Cup, endowed with 250,000 dollars, a total of six German players were in the first round. Katharina Hobgarski had already retired on Sunday.
Görges was the only one of the eight laws. Against the weaker of the two Pliskova sisters, she fended off a match point in the second set before losing in the tiebreak of the decisive round after 2:34 hours.