Tatjana Maria lost in her first round match at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Laura Siegemund, on the other hand, moves into the next round alongside Barbora Krejcikova.
The 36-year-old Maria from Bad Saulgau initially couldn’t find her game against the Belgian Elise Mertens and had to lose the first set 1:6. But then Maria improved and equalized with a 6:4 after sets. The Belgian dominated again in the third round and won 6-0.
Maria therefore missed the second round duel with the world number one and defending champion Iga Swiatek (Poland). Most recently, the world rankings were 66th. qualified with the German team for the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup with a 3-1 win against Brazil. Maria said she ran out of strength against Mertens: “I was tired at the end.”
The crux of the matter was the beginning of the third set. Mertens “started very, very aggressively, then I got the break straight away,” said Maria: “Then the match got away from me a bit.”
Both doubles go into the champions tie-break
Previously, the German women in doubles had twice as much reason to be happy. Laura Siegemund from Metzingen and her Czech partner Krejcikova defeated the duo Yifan Xu/Fang-Hsien Wu 3:6, 6:4 and 10:7.
Mainz native Nastasja Schunk and Ella Seidel prevailed against the pairing of Desirae Krawczyk/Demi Schuurs. It was similarly dramatic, here too the decision was only made in the champions tie-break, which went to Schunk/Seidel 10:8.
“Anyone can beat anyone”: top line-up at the WTA tournament in Stuttgart
Siegemund/Krejcikova will now face Liudmilla Samsonova and Diana Shnaider. Schunk and Seidel’s opponents will be determined between Giuliana Olmos/Alexandra Panova and Hao-Ching Chan/Veronika Kudermetova.
On Wednesday Siegemund will compete in the singles against Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine. In the evening Angelique Kerber will play against former US Open winner Emma Raducanu. It is the Kiel native’s first appearance in Germany after her maternity leave.
Broadcast on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 6:40 p.m., SWR1 Baden-Württemberg