Super Goerges sets up Wozniacki rematch in Dubai

Julia Goerges

The quarter-final line-up for Dubai promised much, but failed to deliver on the most part.  The one shining light came in the final match of the day as Julia Goerges came back from a set down for the second time this week to beat Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4 3-6 6-4 in a fantastic contest.  Hantuchova edged a tight first set, but Goerges really found her rhythm in the second and third sets as she raced out to 4-0 leads in both.  Hantuchova kept putting pressure on the German player at the end with solid service holds, but Goerges showed tremendous resolve to finish off the match in style.  The stats for the match backed up what a great contest it was with Goerges displaying her best tennis of 2012 so far, and her most impressive form since her run in the clay court tournaments last May.  She hit a whopping 49 winners to 27 unforced errors, meanwhile Hantuchova still played a highly respectable match with 26 winners to 24 unforced errors.

Goerges will now play Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals, who beat Ana Ivanovic, 6-3 7-5 in a disappointing match.  Goerges has won her last two encounters with Wozniacki, which both took place on the clay last year in the final of Stuttgart and then a week later in Madrid.  Goerges was in terrific form today, but on hard courts I think that Wozniacki will still be the favourite.  In other matches, Jelena Jankovic had her biggest win in quite sometime as she put in a terrific returning performance to thwart Sam Stosur, 6-4 6-2.  Jankovic will play Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals as she demolished a tearful Sabine Lisicki, 6-2 6-1.  Radwanska was consistent on serve in the first set hitting 90% of 1st serves and losing just four points on it, before dismantling Lisicki's serve in the second set.  I think both semi-finals will be close, but i'm going for a Wozniacki vs. Radwanska final.  This has been a pretty disappointing week for me prediction-wise as all my tips have gone out, but I think Radwanska is now the most likely to prevail in Dubai...