The chance couldn’t have been better on paper, but nerves obviously put a damper on the German tennis talent Ella Seidel’s plans. On Friday, the 20-year-old missed her first semi-final on the WTA tour, but the DTB hopeful was the clear favorite.
After the first set, success was still within reach: Ella Seidel grabbed the first round in the quarter-finals of the WTA tournament in Guangzhou with 6:4 and looked like the sure winner against the American Claire Liu, who had only started the tournament as number 305 in the world rankings – then the German game got completely out of hand.
Seidel, who served extremely well in the first set, only managed 50 percent of her first serves, didn’t score a single point in the second, had to concede three breaks to Liu with only four chances and went down quietly 0-6.
The Hamburger recovered a little in the decider, but showed nerves again on the decisive points and was still unable to build up enough pressure when the first serve didn’t find its way into the court. After a little more than two hours, the surprise was perfect: Liu, who had barely made it into the main draw through qualification, booked the semi-final ticket with a score of 4:6, 6:0 and 6:4.
Seidel still had the upper hand at the beginning of 2025
All in all, Seidel will still see her appearance in the Chinese port city as a success, but the missed opportunity to make her first advance into a WTA semi-final is likely to leave a bitter aftertaste.
Liu, who had a sniff of the top 50 in 2023, but didn’t get too much on the court in 2025 and, among other things, failed to qualify against Seidel at the Australian Open 2025, will now fight for a place in the final against Lulu Sun in the round of the last four.