Petkovic and Niemeier against the top stars - and together
Great duels with Muguruza and Bencic at the start of the bett1open
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey ceremoniously opened the bett1open. On the center court of the Steffi Graf Stadium, she said to applause from the stands, “Sports metropolis Berlin. We are delighted that such top events are hosted here.” Barbara Rittner, the tournament director of the bett1open, was happy to return the compliment to the governing Mayor, “Her presence shows that the city is in it with its heart. It means a lot to us.”
The WTA 500 Tournament will be held at the LTTC “Rot-Weiß” e.V. until June 19, and contested for valuable world ranking points and a total prize money of 757,000 US dollars.
The draw on the Center Court was introduced through a lap of honor of the competing top stars Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova, Bianca Andreescu and the german main field trio Andrea Petkovic, Jule Niemeier and Tamara Korpatsch. The tournament kicks off at 11am in Monday. Highly interesting pairings promise lawn tennis at the top level. The first round will be played on Monday and Tuesday.
The number one seed in Berlin is the Tunisian world number four Ons Jabeur, who has fans all over the world, thanks to her spectacular style of play. She will face Karolina Muchova - and has a lot of respect, “Karolina is a potential top 10 player for me.” Currently ranked 81st in the Czech Republic, Jabeur says that “its new for me to be the favorite in a tournament. That increases the pressure.”
Andrea Petkovic wil be up against Gardine Muguruza. The Spaniard won Wimbledon in 2017 and the French Open in 2016. But Petkovic doesn’t see herself without a chance: “We trained together here in Berlin. I lost the set 5:7 then. Maybe now I win the decisive set 7:5!”
Of course, a special focus is on Coco Gauff. The American comes to Berlin as a French Open finalist. Here she will now meet Ann Li (also USA).
A special task awaits Jule Niemeier. The player from Dortmund won her first WTA tournament at the beginning of June in the Makarska, Croatia. On clay. Now she faces the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic on the grass of the Steffi Graf Stadium. Together with Andrea Petkovic, Niemeier will also compete in Doubles.
While Sabine Lisicki was defeated by Daria Saville in the 2nd qualifying round on Sunday (0:6, 6:7), Tamara Korpatsch made it into the main draw. She had defeated Storm Sanders (7:6, 6:0). Her reward in the main draw will be Xinyu Wang from China, who also beat Anna-Lena Friedsam 4:6 6:3 6:3 in the qualifying round.