Auckland: World No. 14 Julia Goerges won her third successive tournament as she blasted her way to a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Caroline Wozniacki to seal the Auckland Classic title on Sunday.
Goerges was rarely troubled by the world No. 3 as she used a powerful service and blistering forehands that kept the Dane pinned deep and unable to extend rallies beyond a few shots.
The 29-year-old German, who has played at the Auckland tournament every year since her first visit in 2010, extended her winning streak to 14 matches, stretching back to last year when she won in Moscow and then the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.
Bad weather throughout the week wreaked havoc with the schedule in New Zealand’s largest city and both had been required to play their quarter-finals and semi-finals on Saturday.
Both players had made the final at the Auckland Tennis Centre before, with the German losing to Sloane Stephens in 2016, while Wozniacki lost to Venus Williams in 2015.
Goerges however stamped her intentions on the opening point when she smashed a forehand service return back at Wozniacki’s feet and broke to take a 1-0 lead that she never relinquished.
She sealed the first set after 35 minutes with her seventh ace and then broke Wozniacki again in the first game of the second set and continued to just overpower the Dane.
Wozniacki had an opportunity to get back on serve in the fourth game when she had a break point but Goerges simply pulled out another ace and consolidated her lead.
The Dane, however, was finally getting into the match and while she blew her second break point two games later she finally broke in the eighth to get back on serve and then took a 5-4 lead.
That was the only chance she had, however, as Goerges forced a tiebreak and then raced through it to seal the title after 91 minutes with another forehand winner.
In Sydney, Ekaterina Makarova kept cool in the fierce Australian heat to upset the French Open champion and world No. 7 Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(3), 6-1 in the opening round of the Sydney International.
Makarova, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals after stunning Serena Williams three years ago, rode an early break for a 5-3 lead and, even though her Latvian opponent got back to 5-5, raced away with the first set tiebreak.
Third seed Ostapenko, who also lost her opening match in Shenzhen last week, put up a fierce fight at the start of the second set but faded after losing her first service game and Makarova moved on to face Barbora Strycova or Daria Kasatkina.
“It was first match of the season so of course I was nervous at the beginning,” said Makarova.
“But I tried to stay solid, to stay with my aggressive game, and it worked in the important moments.”
With temperatures in western Sydney well above the 40 degrees Celsius mark, some withdrawals might have been expected and local Ellen Perez progressed when France’s Kristina Mladenovic retired at 6-4 4-2 down.
German seventh seed Julia Goerges also withdrew from the tournament citing a knee injury having won the Auckland Classic earlier in the day.
Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Johanna Konta, the reigning champion, are all also in a strong women’s field at Sydney’s Olympic Park.
In the men’s draw, twice former champion Viktor Troicki went out in the first round 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5 at the hands of unorthodox Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.