Sabine Lisicki cried with happiness! Great start in Berlin
One more victory until the main round of the bett1open for celebrated local hero Sabine Lisicki . Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey will open the tournament tomorrow
by p.m
last edit: Jun 11, 2022, 09:21 pm
tears at the start. Tears of joy. The first round of the bett1open2022 qualification was a dream start. And that in front of the well-filled stands in the sun-drenched Steffi Graf Stadium. Because Sabine Lisicki won 6: 4 and 6: 4 against the American Asia Muhammad. After that, the Berliner, who is fighting to return to her former glory after many injuries, could no longer hold back tears of emotion: "The emotions were simply too great." On Sunday she will now play against Daria Saville for her ticket to the main draw. At the excellent WTA 500 tournament on the magnificent facility of the LTTC "Rot-Weiss" e. V. until June 19, in addition to winning the tournament and valuable world ranking points, the prize money totaling 757,000 US dollars is at stake.
Play will resume on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. At 2 p.m., the tournament will be officially opened on Center Court by Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey. It's going to get emotional. The charity partner of bett1open, "PxP-Embassy", performs a song with young people. 500 invited Ukrainian war refugees are also in the stadium.
Central to this opening is the draw for the main draw. International top stars such as Belinda Bencic, Bianca Andreescu and Karolina Pliskova will be there live on the lawn of the Steffi Graf Stadium, as will Andrea Petkovic. The German has already won seven WTA titles.
WTA tournament in Berlin: Top field despite cancellations
Some players like world number one Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Paula Badosa, Anett Kontaveit and Victoria Azarenka had to withdraw at short notice. "Nevertheless, we have a top field together here," says bett1open tournament director Barbara Rittner, looking forward to the tournament week. A tournament week with Sabine Lisicki?
Possible. In the 6: 4 and 6: 4 against the American Asia Muhammad, the Wimbledon finalist from 2013 was often able to rely on her serve and also moved well. "Lawn, that's like home for me. Just natural,” enthused Lisicki. She had never played on her favorite surface, grass, in Berlin. It will be difficult against Daria Saville on Sunday. The Australian convinced in a hard-fought 2-0 win (7-5, 6-4) against Noma Noah Akugue, the 18-year-old German champion of 2020. But Lisicki doesn't see himself without a chance: "I'm training so hard. I still want to achieve something. What? I won't reveal that yet.” The duel between Lisicki and Saville will be played on Center Court after the opening ceremony.
In addition to Lisicki, Tamara Korpatsch (6:2 and 6:3 in the German duel against Lena Papadakis) and Anna-Lena Friedsam (6:3, 3:6, 6:4 against Suzan Lamens from the Netherlands) survived the first round of qualification. Korpatsch now meets Storm Sanders. The Australian didn't give Nastasja Schunk a chance with 6:1 and 6:2. Friedsam has to deal with the Chinese Xinyu Wang.
At the end of the opening day of bett1open2022, there was a lot of tennis drama. Germany's Eva Tys missed three match points against Anastasia Gasanova in the second set. And so in the end there was a bitter 1: 2 defeat (6: 4, 6: 7, 2: 6).
TV NOTE:
ServusTV broadcasts all main draw games live and exclusively on free TV.