Julia Görges starts her mission “title defence” at the “B-WM” in Zhuhai full of optimism.
Tennis pros have their rituals, of course. Nicolas Kiefer once described this particularly aptly and summarizingly. When he was once asked how superstitious he was on a scale of one to ten, “Kiwi” answered like a shot from the gun: “Eleven!
Whether nine, ten or eleven on the superstition scale – Julia Görges will certainly consciously remember her triumphant final spurt of the 2017 season these days when she won the title in Moscow and Zhuhai one after the other. Certain parallels to the here and now are unmistakable, as the 29-year-old once again travelled to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong with a “fresh” tournament success in her luggage.
In Luxembourg a week ago Görges had won her sixth trophy on the WTA Tour (singles). The omens are thus splendid for the Wimbledon semi-finalist in fifth place in Zhuhai, who will meet Elise Mertens (Belgium/No. 4) and Anett Kontaveit (Estonia/No. 10) in the “Rose” group.
Görges has never played against Mertens, in the duel with Kontaveit it is 1:0 for the Regensburg player. On Tuesday she is still free, while the Belgian woman demands the Estonian.
Görges was clearly looking forward to the start of the WTA Elite Trophy in the past days. “The fact that I can be here again means that I have played a constant year,” said the 14th World Ranking and said about her role as defending champion: “I don’t really feel any pressure about it, it’s nothing special mentally either. It’s just nice to be back.
These great memories from last year, when she won her “biggest title” (Görges) so far in Zhuhai, are present everywhere. Top seeded in China is Moscow Champion Filly Daria Kasatkina.
In the “Azalea” group, the strong Russian meets Madison Keys (USA/No. 6) and local hero Qiang Wang (China/No. 11). The winners of the four groups of three qualify for the semi-finals.