Jule Niemeier confirmed her noticeable upward trend in Madrid. The 23-year-old from Dortmund prevailed convincingly in the second round of the WTA clay court tournament against the two-time Wimbledon winner and former world number one Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic 7: 6 (11: 9), 6: 1.
“The first sentence was the key”said Niemeier: “I really like it here in Madrid, in the city and on the courts.” The world number 67 awaits in the third round. now in the Spanish capital a duel against Elise Mertens (Belgium/No. 23) or Rebecca Marino (Canada).
Niemeier entered the game as an underdog against Kvitova, who has already won the title in Miami this season and has won the tournament in Madrid three times. After a hard-fought tie-break, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Niemeier remained highly concentrated in the second set against her opponent, who now made many mistakes, and celebrated after almost two hours of play.
Struff as “Lucky Loser” with top performance
Somewhat surprisingly, Jan-Lennard Struff also moved into the next round. The Warsteiner, who had moved into the main draw as a lucky loser, quickly defeated the Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who was 18 places higher in the world rankings, 6:3, 6:1 in his first round match. Struff’s opponent in the second round is the American Ben Shelton.