This is a minor sensation! The 16-year-old Victoria Brand from Kiel has reached the qualifying final at her debut at the WTA tournament MSC Hamburg Ladies Open at the Rothenbaum! The woman from Schleswig-Holstein already caused a stir last week at the W50 tournament in Darmstadt and is now just one win away from her main draw debut on the WTA Tour. She played brilliantly against Kathinka von Deichmann (Liechtenstein), winning convincingly 6:3, 6:4 to the applause of the fans, and will even play on the Centre Court today (2nd match after 10 am) against Elena Pridankina.
„The atmosphere was really good. I played well and freely, but I was a bit nervous, also because of the ball boys and girls and the spectators. I don't know any of this yet, it's my first WTA tournament. I'll give it my all again tomorrow and hope I can make it into the main draw,“ said the North German, who learned the basics of tennis at Suchsdorfer SV.
Tournament day opens at 10 am with Jule Niemeier, who already reached the Rothenbaum semi-finals in 2021. Now, after her 7:5, 2:6, 6:4 success over Julia Avdeeva, she has the chance to be back in the main draw. For that, she must assert herself against Estonian Elena Malygina. And local favourite Mona Barthel is still dreaming of a comeback in the main draw at her home tournament. The 36-year-old staged a spectacular comeback against Ekaterina Yashina, winning 2:6, 6:1, 6:1, and will duel Eva Vedder from the Netherlands on Monday in the second match after 10 am on Court M1. Local favourite Anna Petkovic and Emily Eigelsbach from Bad Kreuznach have been eliminated.
Hamburg debut for top talent Julia Stusek
As the first German in the main draw, Julia Stusek is in action on Monday afternoon. In her Rothenbaum debut, the wildcard player will face Nadia Podoroska, the Argentine French Open semi-finalist from 2020, in the fourth Centre Court match of the day. „You can't choose your opponents these days. I'm really looking forward to competing here,“ said the 18-year-old, who has already reached the Top 5 of the junior world rankings, looking ahead to her big match.
Furthermore, already on Monday, the second seeds Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine/against Kaitlin Quevedo from Spain) and last year's finalist Anna Bondar (Hungary/against Moyuka Uchijima from Japan) are in action on Center Court.
