Yaroslava Shvedova and Julia Goerges have played many times against each other in doubles, they even played together in Auckland this year. But they faced each other for the first time in their career in singles today in Wimbledon. The grass specialist, Shvedova, got past the German in straight sets.
Sloppy start from both players, Shvedova remains calm to snatch the first set 7-5
Both players have big serves and both players like to be aggressive. That is why there were not a lot of long rallies today. Straight from the first game, it was all about the serve and the return. Goerges really lacked first serves in her opening two games which cost her a first break in the 3rd game of the encounter. Shvedova didn't manage to consolidate her break, which allowed the German to level up the match at two games all. After these two straight breaks, both players held their serves until 5-5 where from one game point up, Goerges served two double faults in a row to hand her opponent a golden break point. The Kazakh didn't waste her opportunity and went on to win the set with a new hold of serve, seven games to five.
Shvedova starts off the set strongly and snatches the win with an ace
After calling the trainer on the court, Goerges didn't look or play better in the second set. Like in the first one, she conceded the first break of the set in the 3rd game. Things got worse for the German in the middle of the second set as she kept hitting big unforced errors.
The Kazakh stayed consistent and broke Goerges one more time to go up a double break. After a long game at 4-2, the German managed to get one of the break back and even started to serve better which allowed her to hold her serve twice quite easily at the end of the match. Unfortunately for her, Shvedova made no mistake on her last service game and even concluded the festivities with an ace. With her 7-5, 6-4 win over Julia Goerges, Yaroslava Shvedova advances to the second round of Wimbledon for the sixth time in her career. For the German, her "grass nightmare" continues as she has not won a match on grass (in singles) since 2012.
The match by the numbers
This match will not be remembered for its quality. Both players hit more double faults than aces, which is very uncommon for them. They also hit more unforced errors than winners. Ironically, the German hit more winners and less unforced errors than her opponent but the other huge difference was the one between the points won behind the first serve. Shvedova hit 65 percent of first serves and won 77 percent of the points behind it compared to Goerges who only hit 45 percent of first serves and only won 63 percent of the points behind it.