The four best players will battle it out for the title at the first edition of the Hamburg Wheelchair Open. With Aniek van Koot, Lizzy de Greef (both from the Netherlands), Ksenia Chasteau from France, and China's Zhenzhen Zhu, the top four seeded players are in the semi-finals of Germany's largest women's wheelchair tennis tournament, which is classified in the highest international category, the Premier Tour.
All four are among the top 10 in the world rankings for wheelchair tennis and did not drop a single set on quarter-final day. Among others, Ksenia Chasteau defeated German champion Britta Wend, who could not be rewarded for a strong performance with a place in the semi-finals, by 6:4 and 6:1.
On semi-final Saturday, Zhenzhen Zhu will first face Lizzy de Greef from 10.30 am, followed by top seed Aniek van Koot taking on the 20-year-old Ksenia Chasteau. The semi-final matches in the doubles competition, in which the two German representatives Britta Wend and Katharina Krüger were eliminated in the quarter-finals, will not take place before 12.30 pm. All matches of the Hamburg Wheelchair Open will be played on Matchcourt M1.
The Hamburg Wheelchair Open make a statement
Fascination. Dynamism. Speed. These three words aptly describe what the audience experiences at the premiere of the Hamburg Wheelchair Open: Tier One. Even after the first two days, the reactions from fans, players and organisers have been overwhelmingly positive. „The Hamburg Wheelchair Open are a milestone in national wheelchair tennis and an important international marker we are setting,“ confirms Niklas Höfken, the tournament's Sports Director. „Such a tournament is of inestimable value for the visibility of wheelchair tennis in Germany. For the spectators, it's a complete gift to see wheelchair tennis at this level in Hamburg.“
A look at the structures also shows that paratennis is professionalising at an incredible pace. The equipment is getting better, prize money is increasing, and media visibility is growing. However, Niklas Höfken appeals: „Inclusion can only grow and become a matter of course through encounters.“ The Combined Event at Rothenbaum creates exactly this space. It's about visibility, recognition, and showing the audience how demanding paratennis is. „Only when people with and without disabilities meet on equal terms do moments arise where it's realised: The wheelchair tennis players are just as professional, they're just as happy about a winner, and they get just as annoyed about an „unforced error“.".
„If we can manage to make wheelchair tennis no longer an exceptional thing, but a matter of course and an integral part of organised tennis, then we will have gained a great deal,“ Niklas Höfken concludes. The Hamburg Wheelchair Open are forging ahead.