Previous year’s semi-finalists Jule Niemeier and Sabine Lisicki have already failed in the first round at the European Open in Hamburg.
The 22-year-old Niemeier lost to Joanne Züger of Switzerland 4-6, 6-0, 4-6 in 1:56 hours to miss out on a place in the last 16. Lisicki lost to Alexandra Krunic from Serbia 4:6, 2:6 in the midday heat at around 34°C. The 32-year-old from Berlin had fought her way through the qualifying rounds at her third WTA tennis tournament after a long injury break, but made too many mistakes.
Niemeier from Dortmund had recently celebrated the greatest success of her career by reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. In view of the intense past week, her team had actually advised against a start in Hamburg. “I really wanted to play and now I got the receipt for it. I will learn from that as well,” said Niemeier.
She now wants to take a good week off from training before the hard court season in North America. “I will stay at home with my parents and spend time with the family.” Before the tournament at Rothenbaum, she had played in Lausanne to get points for the hoped-for direct place in the main draw of the US Open at the end of August and reached the quarter-finals there.
Niemeier got off to a weak start and was already 1:5 behind after only 21 minutes. In the second set, the world number 102 dominated her opponent, but gave up serve three times in the deciding set.
This means that eight of a total of eleven German tennis professionals have already been eliminated in the opening round of the women’s and men’s clay court tournaments in Hamburg. So far, only Andrea Petkovic has reached the round of the best 16.
