Julia Goerges surges to last 16

Julia Goerges had fixed up one Czech player in the second round and now had the opportunity to see another Czech bounce out of Melbourne Park.  Lucie Hradecka, a qualifier, whose dispatch of Ana Ivanovic remains one of the tournament's biggest upsets, stood in the way of the Germans equal best effort here at the Aus Open.

Julia opened by holding serve, hitting a clean winner following a string of errors from the Czech racquet.  Lucie's untidy tennis continued into the second game before she clicked into gear with some solid shots off the ground and an ace to tie things up.

Julia ramped up the pressure in the next two games and at deuce on Lucie's next serve the Czech player again failed with her forehand giving Julia the edge 3-1.

Games went with serve and both girls played acceptable standard tennis until Julia was given the assignment of serving for the set at 5-3.

The task was too much and the next eight points were taken gleefully by Lucie bringing the scoreline to an even 5-5.  Lucie now had the momentum at the right end of the set.

The streak of points extended to ten when Julia found herself down 0-30 and at 30-40 she scrambled to save another break point before eventually sticking a bandage over the bleeding and lead 6-5.  Lucie rocketed through her game finishing with a forehand winner and an ace to necessitate a tie break.

The situation appeared bleak for Goerges when after losing a point on serve, Hradecka maximised the advantage with two forcing shots which resulted in errors and she led the tie break 5-2.  Then a new look Julia Goerges appeared just in time to play the remainder of the breaker, winning six of the next seven points with a combination of ground strokes that moved Lucie around the court and mitigated the power and placement that she had previously been achieving.

The Goerges forehand played a vital role in the comeback that secured the opening set for the German 7-6.

An even contest ensued in set two, and everyone was surprised that a break occurred in the seventh game, such was the control each girl had when serving.  Two unforced errors from the forehand capped off with a double fault put Hradecka in dire straits and Julia soon was serving for a fourth round spot at 5-4.

An awful game also finished with a double fault brought the score to 5-5 and a golden chance had slipped by the German player.

Not to worry- another one came immediately with break points in the next service game from Hradecka.  She managed to save three but couldn't avoid the fourth, and Julia could try once more to serve for glory at 6-5.

History will record that indeed Julia Goerges did win this match 7-6 7-5 and earned a meeting with Ekaterina Makarova in the round of sixteen.