While Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev are currently (successfully) representing the German Tennis Association on the big stage in Indian Wells, numerous other German tennis hopefuls are rather away from the big spotlight at smaller tournaments. But there is good news to report from there too.
Very important victory for Noma Noha Akugue (number 181 in the world rankings)! The 20-year-old from Hamburg celebrated a three-set win against the Greek Despina Papamichail (number 267 in the world rankings) at the W35 tournament in Alaminos (Cyprus) and is now in the round of 16.
The success against the 31-year-old is not a surprise, but it should still be extremely reassuring for the German.
After Noha Akugue was unable to celebrate a victory in the main draw on the tour between September 2023 and mid-February 2024, she recently reached the final in Porto. The win against Papamichail now underlines that the DTB talent is back on the way to its former strength.
In the round of 16, number one seed Noha Akugue will face the 19-year-old Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel (number 293 in the world rankings) or the also 19-year-old Russian Ksenia Zaytseva (number 439 in the world rankings).
German tennis hopeful experiences bitter bankruptcy
However, Julia Middendorf (number 372 in the world rankings) experienced a rude awakening in Cyprus, losing 4:6 and 1:6 against the 21-year-old Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva (number 904 in the world rankings).
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Nicole Rivkin had no problems at the W15 event in Gonesse (France). The number 753 in the world rankings from Germany defeated local hero Delia Gaillard (currently no world ranking points) 6:2 and 6:2.
Although Rivkin only won five of a total of 14 break points, she always had her opponent under control, especially due to a strong return game.
A German tennis player who hasn’t had much to laugh about in recent months also made a real statement on Tuesday evening: Marko Topo (number 384 in the world rankings).
At the Challenger tournament in Hamburg, the 20-year-old won 6:4 and 7:6 against former top 20 player Kyle Edmund. The Briton is now only the 401st in the world, but the DTB youngster’s triumph against the Australian Open semi-finalist from 2018 is still to be valued highly after a few difficult months.