The organizers are likely to celebrate the small W15 tournament in Essen as a complete success. The German tennis hopefuls who started were convincing across the board in the Ruhr area, representing three of four semi-finalists and ultimately also the winner. Eva Bennemann’s triumph in the final against Tessa Brockmann still came as a surprise.
18-year-old Eva Bennemann, who reached the final in Essen without losing a set, surprisingly secured her second title on the ITF tour on Saturday.
In the German duel, the number 712 in the world rankings, Tessa Brockmann, defeated the number one seed in the WTA rankings, who was around 400 places ahead of her.
The game was like a rollercoaster ride for both players: Brockmann rushed to win the first set 6-1, then narrowly lost the second round 3-6 and lost in the decider 1-6 to Bennemann.
For Bennemann, it was the second tournament victory of her professional career after her debut success in Varna, Bulgaria (W15), while Brockmann has already won three small W15 events in 2025. The 19-year-old also won the W35 tournament in Erwitte.
Doubles titles also go to German tennis players
The favorite still had to admit defeat against Bennemann, even though the younger DTB player made a whopping ten double faults, but the high risk when serving paid off. Bennemann scored 18 points with the second serve, while Brockmann was only able to win five rallies when the first serve landed in the net.
In the last set, the balance of power finally tipped: Bennemann could have even bagged a perfect 6-0, but when the score was 5-0, he missed two match points when Brockmann served.
However, the latter does not leave Essen without a title. Brockmann won the doubles competition alongside Laura Böhner. The duo defeated Josy Daems from DTB and Anastasiia Firman from Ukraine 7:7 and 6:4.