Australian Open
German creates a sensation against Chinese
January 15, 2025 – 4:42 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
The German tennis player Laura Siegemund creates a sensation in Melbourne. She throws out a highly valued Chinese woman. For another German, however, it’s over.
After her almost perfect match, Laura Siegemund fell backwards on the court and spread her arms. The German tennis player had just caused a sensation with a surprise coup against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen at the Australian Open.
The 36-year-old won 7:6 (7:3), 6:3 against the world number five from China and reached the third round of the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne for the third time. There Siegemund will meet Anastasia Pavlyutschenkowa or Anastasia Potapova from Russia on Friday.
“I knew I had to play more than my best tennis,” said Siegemund after her completely unexpected but deserved victory. “I know that I can play well too and I wanted to prove that to myself.”
Siegemund gave last year’s finalist a strong fight from the start. In front of national coach Torben Beltz, the Metzinger also performed well in a high-class tiebreak and clinched the first set after 80 intense minutes.
For Tatjana Maria, however, it was the end of the line in the second round. The 37-year-old had to admit defeat to the favorite Dane Clara Tauson 2:6, 2:6. Maria is the first of four German players who started in the main field to be eliminated.
The world number 97. From the start, Siegemund acted at least on an equal footing with Zheng. She played very variably and courageously in the John Cain Arena and seemed to have come up with a clear plan against the Chinese. “Laura plays fantastic tennis,” enthused former player Andrea Petković at Eurosport. “She plays an almost flawless match here.”
After Siegemund only weakened to win the set on her own serve in the first set, she found her rhythm again in the tiebreak and won it thanks to her more aggressive style of play.
In the second set, the doubles specialist took the first two service games from her opponent. On the second break, she also benefited from a penalty for Zheng for exceeding the time limit on serve. After 2:16 hours, the German converted her second match point.