Tamara Korpatsch is the first German tennis player to be eliminated in the first round of the singles competition at the grass court tournament in Berlin.
The 27-year-old from Kaltenkirchen lost to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 and missed out on a place in the last 16. Korpatsch, ranked 105th in the world, had also fought her way through the qualifiers into the main draw. Wang will face French Open finalist Coco Gauff or her American countrywoman Ann Li in the last 16.
That leaves only Andrea Petkovic and Jule Niemeier in the singles tournament. In the doubles competition, both lost in the round of 16 to Asia Muhammad of the USA and Ena Shibahara of Japan 3-6, 6-3, 8-10. In the singles, both face difficult tasks in their first-round matches: Petkovic (34) will face former Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain, Niemeier (22) will have to deal with Swiss Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. Three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber decided not to compete in Berlin in preparation for the grass-court classic at Wimbledon.
Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic and Darja Kassatkina from Russia were the first seeded players to solve their opening tasks after initial difficulties. Pliskova beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-0, while Kassatkina defeated Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
