Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki has tipped her hat to the in-form Julia Goerges after the German beat her to the ASB Classic crown, and says she's still primed for an Australian Open tilt.
Wozniacki fell 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in Sunday afternoon's final, having struggled to match the world No.14 Goerges' powerful service game.
Yet the soon-to-be world No.2 told reporters post-match that there were plenty of silver linings to her defeat.
She had played solid tennis throughout the whole week, earned the WTA No.2 ranking and shaken off her off-season rust.
Goerges was simply the better play on the day, perpetuating a three-month winning streak that stretches back to October.
"She played really well, playing very aggressively and things were going in for her - she made it difficult for me," the top-seeded Wozniacki said.
"The serves on key points, she hit aces almost every time.
"It always hurts to lose but, at the end of the day, it's been a great week and there are lots of positives I can bring with me - I'm not going to be too upset, just take this as a positive, that I made it to the final."
Sunday's loss marks another near miss for the 27-year-old Wozniacki, who has now lost in two Classic finals, a semi-final and two quarter-finals.
She said she'd keep plugging away until she claims an Auckland title win, and that the most important thing was preparing well for Melbourne.
In the lead-up to the final, Wozniacki defeated Croatian Petra Martic and Americans Madison Brengle, Sofia Kenin and Sachia Vickery.
"It's one of the events I've never won and there's not many places where I haven't won so it's definitely a motivation," Wozniacki said.
"It's kind of hard at the beginning of the year, you want to get going, get your game into place and I feel like I've done that well in the past and played well, but just haven't been able to take that last step."
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