Excitement right up to the last rally! The "Qualifying Sunday" at the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open (13 to 20 July) offered dramatic and top-class women's tennis. What a start to the tournament week, especially from a German perspective. Four German professionals won through in the first qualifying round thanks to outstanding performances and are therefore just one win away from the main round.
Anna Petkovic's triumph was particularly impressive. In a complete surprise, she defeated the number one seed in the qualifying list, Carlota Martínez Cirez from Spain, 6:4 and 6:3. Tessa Brockmann's coup was no less unexpected. Fourth seed Irina Bara (Romania) had won the first round 6:4, but then Brockmann turned on the heat - and then the match: brilliantly 6:1 in the second and with nerves of steel 6:3 in the third. Valentina Steiner was equally determined and focussed as she seized the opportunity provided by the WIldcard: 6:2, 6:4 against Renata Jamrichova from Slovakia. Caroline Werner was clearly superior to Gergana Topalova (Bulgaria) and won confidently 6:3 and 6:2.
Mina Hodzic also fought doggedly to reach the second qualifying round, but was ultimately narrowly defeated 4:6 and 5:7 by Zhibek Kulambayeva (Kazakhstan). The 17-year-old Sonja Zhenikhova put up an impressively tough fight against Eva Vedder (Netherlands) for two hours and 49 minutes, but lost 4:6, 7:6 and 4:6.
Some of the best female tennis players in the world will be competing for the title at the outstanding WTA 250s tournament at Hamburg's Rothenbaum until Sunday. Six top German professionals, led by Tatjana Maria and Eva Lys, are already guaranteed a place in the main draw. On Sunday, the draw presented by MSC produced some attractive duels.
The qualifying matches continue on Monday at 10am.
The first round of the main round starts at 1.30 pm.
