Birthday joy as Goerges clinches Zhuhai semis

Defending champion Julia Goerges gave herself an early birthday present yesterday by beating Elise Mertens to book her place in the semi-finals of WTA Elite Trophy. The fifth seed bounced back from a bruising defeat to Anett Kontaveit on Wednesday, but overcame Mertens 6-2, 7-6 in a tense round-robin tie in Zhuhai, southern China.

Goerges, who turns 30 today, was pushed all the way in the second set by her 22-year-old Belgian opponent, but the German clinched the nailbiting tiebreak 7-5 at the Hengqin International Tennis Centre. “Well actually I don’t feel like 30 yet,” Goerges told her postmatch press conference.

“With my performance today I gave myself the best present I good ask for for tomorrow.” The straight sets victory was enough to take Goerges to the top of the group, and the world number 14 jumped with joy on court and punched the air in celebration. Asked if she knew she had to win 2-0 qualify, she said: “I knew what I had to do today -- to win in straight sets -- and I think it was up to me to dictate the game.

“It’s never easy when you know you have to play extremely well to beat someone in straight sets, especially here, where there are only the best players in the world. “I’m obviously very very happy that I made it in the end.”