Paris (AP) – Tennis hope for young talent Nastasja Schunk just missed a surprise at the French Open. The 18-year-old left-hander lost her first round game in Paris against former world number one Simona Halep 4: 6, 6: 1, 1: 6, but showed a very strong performance.
At her Grand Slam debut, Schunk, who slipped into the main draw as a so-called lucky loser, demanded everything from the Romanian. Already in the first sentence, the young German hopeful put Halep under pressure with her powerful game. “She played really well”, Halep also paid tribute to the Germans. In the first set, Schunk was not able to take advantage of her chances.
But in the second round, the left-hander was still there and managed to equalize the set to the cheers of the spectators. The game was still open at the beginning of the third period. Schunk missed two breakballs in Halep’s first service game and had to give up her service shortly afterwards. After that, the strength dwindled and Halep saved himself after 1:48 hours in lap two.
This means that Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic are still there from the German women. Kerber meets the French wildcard player Elsa Jacquemot this Wednesday (12.00 p.m. / Eurosport). Petkovic will face Viktoria Asarenka from Belarus from 11:00 a.m.
Men’s defeats