Former Linz finalist Camila Giorgi advanced to the Linz semifinals for the second time in her career after defeating the in-form Margarita Gasparyan 6-3 3-6 6-2.
It was an encounter where we really saw two sides to the game of the Italian. In the first set and for the first half of the second set, Giorgi was striking the ball with conviction, playing the ball with confidence and she was dictating the course of each of the rallies. A break in the eighth game of the first set was what she needed to see a bit of daylight in the scoreboard, and she carried that momentum into the second set, winning the first three of four games to go up 3-1.
But that was where the match really changed direction and the shots that were originally being fired away for winners and were creating forced errors from Gasparyan, started to turn into unforced errors, particularly off the forehand side. Gasparyan may not have been deciding the vast majority of the points, but she continued to try to search for the depth to keep Giorgi pinned back, and she competed exceptionally hard to make it more of a contest, and subsequently turned the set around, claiming all of the next five games. The question really was what Giorgi was going to show up for the third set. Would it be the player that blasted her way to a Wimbledon quarterfinal this year or would it be the player that has been frustratingly up-and-down throughout her tennis career? We knew what we would get from Gasparyan, but there were question marks on the shoulders of the powerful Giorgi–to which she responded big time.
People often categorize the Italian as that player that has one way of playing and that is where it ends, but it also gets underestimated just how physical the match can become against Giorgi. Having to keep the point alive on the defense in 80-90% of the rallies can be tiring on the body and tiring mentally, and the persistent offensive tennis that she produces actually prevents her from doing as much of the running as her opponent. Gasparyan really found that out in the 3rd set as she started to fade gradually in the final stages, and a double fault on break point down for 4-2 was the final nail in the coffin, as Giorgi marched towards victory and is now two wins away from securing a Linz title indoors.
What we saw in the end was Giorgi’s ability to battle hard when the match got rather concerning for her and the Italian’s willingness to make the necessary adjustments midway through the match really played a part in stopping the match from getting more out of hand for her.
“I am very happy because it was not an easy match and I pulled it out with character. She plays with a lot of variety and it is not easy to deal with it, especially because I am not feeling 100%. My foot has not recovered perfectly from a little injury and today I struggled to put weight on it on her crafty shots. But in the 3rd set I told myself not to think about it and just play. Glad it worked out.”
“In the third set I kept telling myself that I could not allow myself any mistake: I had to keep the ball in play no matter what. I think this was the key. My dad also helped me during the coaching when he told me to add more spin and slice to my serve. This way I could hit more 1st serves and therefore start the rallies on the front foot.”
(Translated from Italian by Giulio Gasparin and Michele Galoppini of sportface.it)
The match, as it always is, was on her racquet. She makes the winners. She makes the unforced errors and she decides her fate, and the match had gotten away from her when she was just three games from victory, but she dug deep, searched for answers, and continued to believe in her shots until she got it right. The backhand in the final set was sensational and it was that shot that really drove her home to victory.
