NIEMEIER LOSES TO BADOSA – WOZNIACKI AND THE MAGIC OF THE KURPARK: “EVERYONE CAN BE PROUD OF THIS TOURNAMENT”

Jule Niemeier got off to a strong start but missed out on another surprise in the end: The 24-year-old was beaten 6-4, 2-6, 1-6 by former world number two Paula Badosa (Spain) in the round of sixteen at the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt. “I played very, very well in the first set. It was exactly the kind of tennis I want to play, the kind of tennis I want to show,” said Jule Niemeier, who couldn’t explain her subsequent slump: “We’ll work through what happened in the second and third sets and then hopefully it won’t happen again.”

The 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist, who had beaten top seed Maria Sakkari in three sets the day before, made 12 double faults. But even the support of the 3500 spectators on the Spielbank Bad Homburg Open did not help on Tuesday.

Wozniacki praised after three-set win over Svitolina

Caroline Wozniacki also experienced the magic of the Kurpark: The 2018 Australian Open champion got the better of last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, winning 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 in the replay of the opening match that had been abandoned the day before due to darkness. It was the Dane’s first grass court victory since Wimbledon 2019.

Afterwards, Caroline Wozniacki was full of praise for the tournament at the historic grounds of TC Bad Homburg: “This is a very special tournament – with a great crowd. Everyone involved here can be proud,” she said in an on-court interview with Matthias Stach. Veronika Kudermetova awaits the mother-of-two in the round of 16 on Wednesday (4:00 pm).

Teenie Stusek: First class work, then main round in Bad Homburg

The last few days have also been exciting for the highly talented Julia Stusek. The 15-year-old member of the Porsche Junior Team received a qualifying wildcard for the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt, “for which I am very grateful to tournament director Aljoscha Thron,” she said.

Last Saturday, Julia Stusek, daughter of a former professional tennis player and a tennis coach, lost her qualifying match in the Kurpark and then plunged back into her everyday life. The best proof: On Monday she had written a class test at her school in Mannheim before things took a turn for the better: Due to Yulia Putintseva’s injury, Julia Stusek slipped into the main draw of the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt as the lucky loser. On Tuesday, she will take on Peyton Stearns from the USA, who is currently 854 places above the German in the world rankings.

Defending champion Siniakova faces detention on Wednesday.

After some initial nerves, the heavy underdog held her nerve in a series of rallies five days before her 16th birthday to almost level the second set. “All in all, it was a great experience to be here. I think I’m on the right track,” said a proud Julia Stusek. It was her first main-round match at a WTA tournament.

The first round match between defending champion Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) and Russian second seed Liudmila Samsonova had to be cancelled on Tuesday evening due to darkness at 6:3, 2:2 and has been rescheduled for Wednesday.