Five women and two men from the German Tennis Association tried their luck in qualifying for the Australian Open 2024 – in the end only one starter made it into the main field. A rather disappointing result, but at the same time a small ray of hope.
German tennis hope Ella Seidel has reached the main round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. The 18-year-old from Hamburg didn’t give the American Hailey Baptiste (number 131 in the world rankings) the slightest chance in her qualifying final at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday. Seidel swept her four-year-older competitor off the court 6:0, 6:4 and literally stormed into the main field.
Seidel’s triumph comes as quite a surprise. There is no question that the North German is one of the DTB’s greatest talents, but the path to the Australian Open Draw was a difficult one. In the first round of qualification, Seidel defeated the favored American Elizabeth Mandlik (number 116 in the world rankings) in three sets. Seidel also had to go through three sets against the British Francesca Jones and benefited from her opponent’s abandonment in the last round when the score was 4:4.
German tennis talents with light and shadow
In the final there was once again a real gala against Baptiste, especially since Seidel presented himself incredibly effectively. Baptiste’s rate of seven out of eleven break points fended off was already strong, but Seidel prevented all four of her opponent’s break opportunities – a perfect result.
The German also shone with her first serve and only made 13 unforced errors.
Meanwhile, there is bad news to report from Eva Lys. The 21-year-old, who reached the main draw at the Australian Open and the US Open in 2023, failed in the qualifying final this time – and really badly.
In the 6:2, 6:7 (4:7), 3:6 against the Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean, Lys even missed a match point in the second set. Lys had previously shown extremely strong performances in the qualification.
This means that a total of eleven German players will be competing in the first major of the year.