Enlarge image
Jule Niemeier: "Really well done"
Photo: Aaron Favila/AP
Wimbledon quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier missed a surprise at the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The 23-year-old lost her first round duel with the Polish world number one Iga Świątek 4: 6, 5: 7 despite a good performance.
That was "a real test" for Świątek, said national coach Barbara Rittner at Eurosport, and Niemeier "did it really well".
As in the round of 16 of the US Open last September, Niemeier demanded everything from the Pole in the Rod Laver Arena.
In the end, the greater experience and quality of the favorite prevailed.
Basketball icon Dirk Nowitzki, who was a decent tennis player in his youth, also followed Niemeier's first appearance in the main draw of the Australian Open in the stands.
»I felt like a garbage can on the square«
Other German starters were also eliminated: Oscar Otte lost 2:6, 4:6, 7:6 (7:2), 5:7 against the only 17-year-old Chinese Shang Juncheng.
“I felt like I was a garbage can on the pitch and I didn’t manage at all to play a reasonable return with the backhand above all,” said the 29-year-old.
Daniel Altmaier defended himself for 3:19 hours in the Kia Arena, then the 24-year-old had to face the US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe after a 3: 6, 3: 6, 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 7 (6:8)-defeat finally congratulate.
Eva Lys lost to Spain's Cristina Bucsa 6-2, 0-6, 2-6.
Tamara Korpatsch had to admit defeat to the British Emma Raducanu, US Open winner from 2021, 3: 6, 2: 6.
bka/dpa
