Defending champion Anna Bondar - previously rather inconspicuous and under the radar at the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open - made it to the semi-finals in spectacular style! The Hungarian won a dramatic three-set thriller on Friday against the Rothenbaum number one seed Ekaterina Alexandrova: 6:7, 6:3, 7:6. In the decisive tie-break, she first won her match points with a net roller - and then actually won with another net roller! That was lucky. But the success was still well deserved. She will now face Kaja Juvan in the semi-finals on Saturday. Dayana Yastremska and Lois Boisson will contest the second final round duel.
Over the past few years, Kaja Juvan has got used to congratulating her good friend Iga Swiatek on her sporting successes more often than the other way round. Just like a week ago, when Swiatek triumphed at Wimbledon. But it could be the other way round - and the Polish superstar congratulates Juvan. The Slovenian clay court specialist put in a very strong performance in the quarter-finals of the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open. Her 6:4, 6:7, 6:4 victory over Leyre Romero Gormaz (Spain) took her through to the semi-finals at the Rothenbaum.
"I'm always happy about Iga's victories - and I think Iga is happy for me too," Juvan revealed after her strong performance. In 2018, Juvan and Swiatek won gold together at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Juvan also won individual gold there.
Is she now also gilding her Hamburg appearance? Possible, but difficult. Because her next opponent - defending champion Anna Bondar - played herself into the semi-finals with an impressive performance. Her opponent Alexandrova had previously not dropped a single set in the entire tournament and had practically not allowed herself any weaknesses.
But Bondar remained calm, focussed and highly concentrated throughout. That was the key to her surprising success, which she herself was delighted with: "That was certainly one of the biggest victories of my career. I'm very happy with the level I played at."
Bondar and Juvan have only met once before, and that was a very long time ago: 2016, also a semi-final, also on clay. Juvan won 6:3, 6:3 in Velenje, Slovenia. "I can't even remember that," Bondar admitted. However, it is already clear that Hamburg will remain a place to remember for her. She won the singles and doubles here last year - she now has that chance again.
Dayana Yastremska and Lois Boisson have never played a duel on the WTA Tour. Who will have the better cards in their first duel?
The number two seed Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine) had to work hard throughout the high-class match with Dalma Galfi (Hungary). She won the first set in a tie-break, but Galfi secured the second 6:3 and it even looked as if the match was slipping away from Yastremska at this point - especially when Galfi opened the final set with a break to make it 1:0.
Yastremska had never been under so much pressure at the Rothenbaum as at that moment - but then she delivered: a direct re-break - with aggressive full-court tennis, she suddenly became the dominator of the match and won 6:2. "That was really very tough. But in the third set I somehow managed to have more energy again," she commented afterwards, relieved to have reached the semi-finals.
She will need a lot of energy to stand a chance against Boisson. The Frenchwoman dictated her quarter-final against the previously very convincing Viktoriya Tomova (Bulgaria) unexpectedly clearly, winning 6:3 and 6:3. Strong forehand balls, stable serves and a clever stop here and there. This Boisson three-setter was impossible for Tomova. "Lois is my favourite," said Andrea Petkovic, the tournament ambassador for the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open, right from the start of the tournament. Nevertheless, the performances shown in the quarter-finals have shown that the power density is extremely high. All four semi-finalists have a chance of winning the title.
