Germans Goerges, Witthoeft Win WTA Titles in Final Week of Regular Season

German Julia Goerges won her first title in her fourth final of 2017 on Sunday at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Russia, defeating Russian Daria Kasatkina, 6-1, 6-2.
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It was her third career title and her first in more than six years.

“It’s been six years now, and I’ve been working hard for this moment here, and I’m just so happy and so emotional now,” Goerges said on court afterwards. “And at the same time, it means a lot that I can share this moment with Dasha.”

The German will return to the Top 20, and in the last week of the regular season eclipsed 400 aces, the first player to do so in a singles season in nine years. She also passes Angie Kerber as the No. 1-ranked German player.

The 5-foot-11 Goerges improved to 3-7 in career finals, and Kasatkina dropped to 1-2.

Another German captured the Luxembourg title when Carina Witthoeft beat Monica Puig 6-3, 7-5 for her first WTA title at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.

“Winning my first WTA title feels unbelievable,” Witthoeft said. “To play the last tournament of the season and finish the season winning your first title is just perfect.”

When serving for the match Witthoeft threw in a couple doubles faults and dropped serve, but stopped Puig from forcing a tiebreak.

“I was telling myself to stay aggressive,” Witthoeft said. “It was so close in the second set and I was really struggling with my serve. But I just told myself to focus and be aggressive and I was happy to win it in two sets.”

The 22-year-old German is now 1-0 in career finals, while the 24-year-old Puig fell to 2-2 after her first 2017 final.

“Carina, great job on an amazing final and amazing tournament, you played some great tennis,” Puig said during the trophy ceremony. “I know it’s the first time we’ve played each other but I hope we can play in many more great finals in the future.”

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