Goerges storms to Zhuhai title

ZHUHAI, Guangdong province - Germany's Julia Goerges won the final of the WTA Elite Trophy on Sunday, hammering second-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of the US to claim her second title of the year.

The 29-year-old made an unexpected comeback in the first set en route to sweeping the fiery Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-1, as tennis legend and fellow German Steffi Graf looked on.

With the title, Goerges is set to end the season with a career-high world ranking of No 14.

She joins previous Elite Trophy winners Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams.

Vandeweghe started off strong, easily breaking Goerges in the second game and holding serve in the next to take a 3-0 lead.

But Goerges persevered, finally breaking serve in the ninth game and setting herself up for a fantastic comeback.

A fuming Vandeweghe shouted and threw down her racket in frustration before finally losing the set 7-5.

Goerges dominated in the second, winning seven straight games as Vandeweghe seemed to lose focus.

The German claimed the match with a third break of serve in the second set.

Goerges enjoyed a smooth road to the final, seeing off Slovakia's number one Magdalena Rybarikova, top seed Kristina Mladenovic and Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova - also in straight sets.

But it wasn't all bad news for Vandeweghe. By reaching the final, she had already overtaken France's Mladenovic to secure her place in the world top 10 - her stated goal for the year.

Agence France-presse