On cusp of top-10, Pe’er falls hard to 35th-ranked Goerges

Shahar Pe’er squandered a golden opportunity to break into the world’s top-10 losing 6-2, 6-3 to German Julia Goerges.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Peer 311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Shahar Peer 311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Shahar Pe’er squandered a golden opportunity to break into the world’s top-10 on Thursday, losing 6-2, 6-3 to German Julia Goerges in the third round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.
Pe’er entered the tournament just five ranking points from a place in the top-10, with the Israeli at No. 11 on 3,030 points and No. 10 Serena Williams on 3,035.
A victory over Goerges (35) would have ensured Pe’er climbed to No. 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday, but she never really found her rhythm on Thursday, getting broken five times and losing after one hour and 24 minutes.
Pe’er will now leave the US for Israel, where she will train and rest while continuing her search for a new coach to replace the sacked Craig Kardon.
The Israeli’s next tournament will be the $4,500,000 event in Madrid, which gets underway on April 30.
Meanwhile, US and Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters will be out of action for at least four weeks due to a painful right shoulder and wrist.
The world number two wrote on her website that she will miss Belgium’s Fed Cup semifinal against Spain on April 16-17 and the Madrid Open, Clijsters said medical staff had advised her to take four to six weeks off to rest and undergo intensive physiotherapy.
“I think this is a great pity,” Clijsters wrote. “The Fed Cup is something I was really looking forward to. But I felt that something was out of the ordinary; there were too many minor ailments, one after another, which did not seem to disappear.”
Clijsters’s pinched shoulder forced her to retire from the Indian Wells WTA tournament in mid-March and she fell in the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami last week.
The 27-year-old said she was keen to be back in top form by the time of the Rome Open on May 9 in readiness for the French Open two weeks later. She missed the grand slam tournament with a foot injury last year.
“I really want to be there at this year’s Roland Garros...Now there is no other option than to rest and I certainly can’t use a tennis racket for the first few weeks,” she said.
Reuters contributed to this report.