The strong underdog Bernarda Pera won the tennis tournament at the Rothenbaum in Hamburg. In the final of the European Open, the 27-year-old American deservedly beat the favourite Anett Kontaveit from Estonia 6:2, 6:4 in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg.
While the world number 81 celebrated her second WTA title win within a week after her success in Budapest, the world number two Kontaveit, coached by German Torben Beltz, missed her first tournament win on clay.
The men’s final will feature a clash between top favourite Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Lorenzo Musetti. The 20-year-old Italian fought off Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). In the last match of the evening, the 19-year-old young star Alcaraz won 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 against the Slovak Alex Molcan, who held out for a long time, but only came up trumps in his usual manner in the second round.
In the duel of the finalists, who had not lost a set in the clay court event, Pera found her way into the match much better. She took three service games from her opponent and won the first set in 31 minutes.
The top-seeded Kontaveit, who had eliminated Andrea Petkovic from Darmstadt in the quarter-finals, improved in the second set but made too many easy errors. In the end, the twelfth win in a row for left-hander Pera was perfect after 74 minutes.
Meanwhile, Tim Pütz’s hopes for a German success in the doubles were not fulfilled. The 34-year-old Frankfurt native and New Zealander Michael Venus lost to Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain and Harri Heliovaara of Finland 4:6, 4:6. Their opponents in the final on Sunday will be Rohan Bopanna of India and Matwe Middelkoop (Netherlands).
