BRD Bucharest Open, Romania

[CR57] Julia Goerges (GER) vs. [CR90] Danka Kovinic (MNE)

When you are an established player, you are expected to win the matches against the young up and coming players. Yet, often we have seen seasoned players lose at the hands of their younger opponents. They play with fearless abandon, going for their shots, completely taking their veteran opponents by surprise. That’s what happened today as Goerges faced Kovinic for the first time. She appeared unprepared for the ferocity of Kovinic’s shots and would have lost in straight sets if Kovinic did not succumb to a bout of nerves.

Kovinic served for the match, lost her serve and went on to lose the second set in the tiebreak. They are just as susceptible to being nervous as their older opponents, and it usually becomes apparent when they are close to winning the match. Nevertheless, she regained her composure in the third set and won it easily. Goerges put up as much resistance as she could, but to no avail, she was simply outplayed in the third. Kovinic continues to announce her presence with this 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-2 defeat of the veteran, Goerges. I am curious to see how she plays against her next opponent, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who is also twenty. Who will be the more confident? Their head-to head in four encounters is even.