Austrian world No. 235 Lilli Tagger's fairytale run at the WTA 250 tournament in Jiujiang continues after the 17-year-old stunningly saved three consecutive match points and won five games in a row to pull off an improbable third-set comeback and beat second-seeded Viktorija Golubic 6-1 4-6 7-5 for a place in the final.
Prior to this week, the 17-year-old Austrian had never taken part in a WTA main draw, but still made the Jiujiang semifinal without a dropped set in her opening three matches.
Playing against experienced 33-year-old Swiss Viktoria Golubic, Tagger made a lightning start after breaking the No. 2 seed twice to dominantly win the opener.
After a one-sided first set, the second set was a bit of a rollercoaster – Golubic had an early break but Tagger responded with two breaks on her own to overturn the deficit and open a 4-3 lead. Down by a set and a break, the No. 2 seed won the next three games to send the match into a third set.
Tagger mounted a stunning third-set comeback
After failing to close out the match in two sets, the 17-year-old appeared to be done as Golubic earned an early third-set break – and with the momentum on her side – went on to open a 5-2 lead.
That's when a major comeback started. Firstly, Tagger didn't allow Golubic to serve out for the match in the ninth game. Then, the 17-year-old saved three consecutive match points in the 10th game to tie the decider to five games apiece. The Austrian then broke the No. 2 seed to love in the 11th game before serving out for the match in the following game.
World No. 95 Anna Blinkova is now standing between Tagger and the Austrian's maiden WTA title. The 17-year-old Austrian and the 27-year-old Russian have no previous meetings.
