WTA Strasbourg: semi-finals! Jule Niemeier continues her dream run!
Jule Niemeier continued her mad run at the WTA tournament in Strasbourg and is in the semifinals after a double shift.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 27, 2021, 07:09 pm
Niemeier defeated the Dutch Arantxa Rus 6: 4, 6: 1 on Thursday evening and is now in a semi-final at a tournament at WTA level for the first time in her career.
This is all the more astonishing as Strasbourg is only the second WTA tournament in which Niemeier takes part in the main draw, after Nuremberg in 2019, where she made her way through qualifying as a wildcard player. At that time, Niemeier was still number 435 in the ranking, currently she is in 216th place. It is also clear that the 21-year-old will crack the top 200 for the first time on Monday, and in the live ranking she is already in 170th place thanks to the Strasbourg finals guided.
Never with a double shift
The Dortmund woman had to play twice on Thursday, the round of 16 match against Shelby Rogers was interrupted in the second set on Wednesday and postponed due to rain. "It was a tough night for me to lead 6: 4, 2: 1, and then the match will be interrupted," said Niemeier - and won 6: 4, 7: 6 (6) on Thursday afternoon against the former US Open quarter finalist.
Against Rus, Niemeier determined the match again from the start, dominating the rallies again and again with her strong forehand. In the end, Rux was able to fend off three match points, but Niemeier persisted and managed the last break to victory. She got a total of 29 winners, with Rus it was only 10.
"I'm just very happy. It was a very good match, I played well," said Niemeier afterwards. She wasn't too nervous before the start of the game, despite the greatest chance so far. "I was actually very relaxed. I had nothing to lose because of my position in the ranking. "
In the semifinals on Friday, Niemeier will meet Barbora Krejicikova, seeded five, while Sorana Cirstea and Magda Linette will contest the other semifinals.