WTA Berlin: Petkovic and Niemeier against top stars - and together!
The draw at the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin promises high tension. While Andrea Petkovic meets Garbine Muguruza , Jule Niemeier has to deal with Belinda Bencic .
by PM/red.
last edit: Jun 12, 2022, 08:42 pm
Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey officially opened the bett1open2022. On the center court of the Steffi Graf Stadium, she said to applause from the grandstands: "Sports metropolis Berlin. We are happy that such top events are guests here.” Barbara Rittner, the tournament director of bett1open, was happy to return the compliment to the Governing Mayoress: “Your presence shows that the city is heartily involved. That means a lot to us.”
At the WTA 500 tournament, the LTTC “Rot-Weiß” e. V. until June 19 for valuable world ranking points and total prize money of 757,000 US dollars. The draw on the center court began with a lap of honor by the top stars Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova, Bianca Andreescu and the German main draw trio Andrea Petkovic, Jule Niemeier and Tamara Korpatsch. It starts on Monday at 11 a.m. Highly interesting pairings promise top-level lawn tennis. The first round will be played Monday and Tuesday.
Jabeur leads field
Number one in Berlin is the Tunisian world number four Ons Jabeur, who has fans all over the world thanks to their spectacular style of play. She meets Karolina Muchova - and has a lot of respect: "Karolina is a potential top ten player for me." The Czech is currently in 81st place. Jabeur says that "it's new for me to be a favorite in a tournament . That increases the pressure."
Andrea Petkovic faces Garbine Muguruza. The Spaniard won Wimbledon in 2017 and the French Open in 2016. But Petkovic doesn't see himself without a chance: "We trained together here in Berlin. I lost the set 5:7. Maybe I'll win the decisive set 7:5!"
A special focus is of course on Coco Gauff. The American comes to Berlin as a finalist in the French Open. Here she meets Ann Li (also USA).
Lisicki loses in qualification
A very special task awaits Jule Niemeier. The Dortmund native won her first WTA tournament in Makarska, Croatia, at the beginning of June. on sand. Now she has to deal with Olympic champion Belinda Bencic on the lawn of the Steffi Graf Stadium. Together with Andrea Petkovic, Niemeier also competes in doubles.
While Sabine Lisicki failed in the second qualifying round on Sunday due to Daria Saville (0:6, 6:7), Tamara Korpatsch played her way into the main draw. She defeated Storm Sanders in qualifying (7-6, 6-0). As a reward, the Chinese Xinyu Wang is now waiting in the main round, who also defeated Anna-Lena Friedsam 4:6, 6:3, 6:3 in the qualification.
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