After one unsuccessful finals berth, two semi-finals and a quarter-final, Julia Goerges has finally charted a path to ASB Classic glory.
The German second seed – a nine-time Auckland veteran – trumped Danish star Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 7-6 (7-4) on Sunday afternoon to win the 2018 event.
In a final delayed by this week’s persistent Auckland rain, Goerges ran riot against the Classic top seed, slamming unplayable winners over and over.
It completes a near-flawless tournament for the world No.14.
Goerges cruised through the Classic rounds, overcoming rain delays to down Olympic gold-medallist Monica Puig, Viktoria Kuzmova and Polona Hercog.
In Saturday’s semi-final, she overpowered Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1 6-4.
The Regensburg-based powerhouse said she was chuffed to finally claim the Classic title, having fallen just short on several occasions in the past.
Goerges lost in the 2016 final to Sloane Stephens, lost in semi-finals to Greta Arn and Ana Konjuh and a quarter-final to Wozniacki herself in 2015.
“It means quite a lot, I must say. I’ve been very consistent in this tournament over the past few years and it’s nice to finally get this big trophy,” Goerges said.
“I can’t really complain about my situation now but, in the next days, the work will start again – it doesn’t mean anything for you in the next event.”
In blustery conditions both players described as challenging, Goerges seized the initiative in both sets, breaking Wozniacki’s serve in the first games.
From that point, she held serve through to a 6-4 first-set win, and didn’t let a Wozniacki surge prevent her from grinding out a second-set tiebreak triumph.
Her thundering forehand was a major asset, particularly when returning Wozniacki’s serve, and she also smashed a total of 11 aces across the match.
“If I break once, it’s good – if I serve well, I won’t get broken. She’s one of the best returners in the world but I tried to make it tough,” Goerges said.
The 29-year-old Goerges’ victory at the Classic is also her third consecutive WTA title, having won events in late 2017 in Moscow and Zhuhai.
She’ll now head into the Australian Open in career-best form and with a 14-match, three-month winning streak under her belt.
“Every title is special but for me, it’s more important to really improve my game, and it took me a while to get a bigger improvement,” Goerges said.
“I really had to be patient for that, which is not always the easiest.
“I always believed in my team when they were telling me, it’s going to come, you’ve already put it into practice so it’ll take some more time.
“It paid off at the end.”
