Jule Niemeier waved to the crowd for the last time and left the court to the applause of the spectators: The tennis fairytale of the Dortmund player at the US Open is over.
The 23-year-old outsider gave world number one Iga Swiatek a hard time for a long time in New York and was allowed to hope for the next coup. In the end, however, she was beaten 6:2, 4:6 and 0:6 by the top-seeded Pole and, unlike two months ago in Wimbledon, missed the quarter-finals.
“It was a great experience. I was really good in the first set, was very aggressive and played my game,” said Niemeier: “Then my serve didn’t come like that, and then it’s hard against a player like Iga.” That was “very frustrating”, he added.
No German player has reached the round of the best eight at the last Grand Slam tournament of the year since 2016, when Angelique Kerber ended up winning the title. Niemeier was the last German tournament hope to be eliminated – but she can still feel like a winner at only her third Grand Slam tournament. With her three convincing victories against higher-ranked opponents, the player from Dortmund will make a big leap forward in the world rankings from her current 108th place.
“A few grains were missing “
“How fearlessly she imposes her own game on Iga Swiatek, how cool she stays – I’m absolutely thrilled,” said national coach Barbara Rittner on Eurosport about Niemeier’s strong performance for a long time at the Louis Armstrong Stadium: “She dominated the world number one for an hour. After that she ran out of steam. There was a lack of some grit. “
The Dortmund player did not only rely on her strong serve. Niemeier also repeatedly threw in a slice, was successful with stops and occasionally scored at the net. With this variable game, the German provoked numerous errors from the French Open winner. However, she caught herself from the middle of the second set and made fewer mistakes. Niemeier’s concentration suffered as the match progressed.
Swiatek will play for a place in the semi-finals on Wednesday against Jessica Pegula of the USA, who had previously beaten two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2. She is unbeaten in all her ten duels against German players.
Kyrgios dethrones Medvedev
On Monday night, Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios had made his grand entrance. Australia’s polarising tennis star dethroned defending champion Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (13-11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a highly entertaining round of 16 match, with Kyrgios really showing off the Russian world number one from the middle of the third set onwards. Meanwhile, the defending champion curse continues at the US Open: Since Roger Federer in 2008, no male tennis professional has been able to triumph again in the year following a title win.
