The day after their early elimination against Italy, the German tennis women started the second preliminary round match at the final round of the Billie Jean King Cup in Seville with a defeat. Due to Jule Niemeier’s 4:6, 3:6 against Clara Burel, captain Rainer Schüttler’s team fell 0-1 behind against France.
In the second match of the day, German number one Tatjana Maria, who surprisingly did not play the day before, meets Varvara Gracheva. In addition to Niemeier from Dortmund, the specialist and WTA Finals winner Laura Siegemund was nominated for the final doubles. The two will face France’s top player Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
Niemeier got into the game well in her match, but had too many problems with her service game, as she had all season. The 24-year-old made a total of 15 double faults and gave up her serve seven times in a real break festival.
On Thursday, the selection of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) lost 3-0 at the start against Italy. Italy was the only team in the group of three to advance to the semi-finals on Saturday. The final at the Estadio de La Cartuja in the Andalusian capital takes place on Sunday.
“Of course that wasn’t the result we were hoping for,” said Schüttler after the clear defeat against Italy – they were “never satisfied” with a defeat. The two-time title holder Germany, which somewhat surprisingly qualified for the final round of the world’s twelve best teams in April, last reached the semi-finals of the prestigious national competition (formerly the Fed Cup) five years ago.