Early French Open for Otte

First German disappointment in Roland Garros: Oscar Otte didn’t find his form on the red ashes of Paris either and had to bow out early. In round one of the French Open, the man from Cologne lost to the Russian Grand Slam debutant Alexander Shevchenko 5: 7, 6: 4, 1: 6, 6: 7 (2: 7), while Jule Niemeier was still around late Sunday evening Getting into round two struggled.

“At the moment everything is actually missing. It’s just not enough at the moment,” said Otte frustrated: “For the first time in a long time I’m really broken after a match.”

In front of a good-humoured Paris audience, Otte initially did not find his way into the game at all in eighth place. Again and again, the Cologne native balanced his forehand shots from the baseline and consistently gave up the first set despite an intermittent gasping.

After that, the game continued to move at a manageable level. Schewtschenko, who lives in Austria and played his very first Grand Slam match, was nervous at times. As the game progressed, however, he shook them off more and more and finally put Otte in his place.

“He’s always good for surprises, but the consistency is lacking,” said “Eurosport” expert Boris Becker about Otte: “So much between world class and district class.”

Otte follows his form

Otte last survived the first round in Roland Garros in 2019. In 2023, the 29-year-old has been chasing his form – at the ATP Masters in Madrid and Monte Carlo it was also an early end for him.

While Otte was annoyed about the missed chance, Jule Niemeier was still fighting Darja Kassatkina a few meters away for the second round. The Dortmund player’s match against the ninth-placed Russian started late on Sunday evening.

Co-favorite Aryna Sabalenka had experienced an emotional start hours earlier. As expected, her Ukrainian opponent Marta Kostjuk refused to shake the Belarusian’s hand. Kostjuk, who was booed for the action by parts of the audience, then criticized Sabalenka for not positioning herself clearly enough against the war in Ukraine.

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