Camila Giorgi, who wanted to leave Linz with a trophy in her hand, had already reached the last 16 of the Upper Austria Ladies. The 31-year-old Italian lost to Denmark’s young star Clara Tauson 6:1, 3:6, 4:6. Tauson will face Croatia’s Petra Martic in the quarter-finals on Friday (not before 8 p.m.), who defeated Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck 6:4, 6:7 (5/7), 7:6 (7/3) at 11.40 p.m. shortly before midnight.
Camila Giorgi cried heart-breaking tears after her three-set defeat to Clara Tauson in the Players’ Lounge and was lovingly consoled by her father and coach Sergio. The Italian and the 20-year-old Dane, who had slipped into the main draw as the “lucky loser” following Katerina Siniakova’s cancellation due to injury, had delivered a top-class match. After the first set, there seemed to be no doubt that Giorgi, the 2018 Linz winner, would win. The 1.82 metre tall Dane then showed that she has huge potential; her serve in particular is sensational. One spectacular rally after another followed towards the end of the third set before Clara Tauson converted her fourth match point. The disappointment was still written all over Camila Giorgi’s face as she left the Linz Design Centre at 9.30 pm with the words “I’ll be back”.
“Camila played unbelievably at the start, she hit winners from every spot on the court. In the beginning, I just tried to win as many points as possible and somehow drag out the match. I thought she would finish me off in an hour,” said the Dane, who has already won two WTA tournaments in her short career.
Explosive quarter-final with Sakkari versus Vekic
Linz debutant Tauson is following in the footsteps of US American “Coco” Gauff, who won the title in Linz as a “lucky loser” in 2019: “It’s the first time ever that I’ve made it into the main draw as a lucky loser. I hope that my lucky streak continues.” The highly talented Tauson, who was already ranked 33rd in the world in February 2022, has only just returned after recovering from a double torn ligament in her foot.
The matchday opens at 2 p.m. with the match between Hungarian qualifier Dalma Galfi and Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo 2021, followed by Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam against Anastasia Protapova and (not before 6.30 p.m.) top seed Maria Sakkari (Greece) against Donna Vekic (Croatia). To round off the day, Clara Tauson against Alison van Uytvanck. One match more explosive than the other!
