Three-time Grand Slam tournament winner Angelique Kerber is travelling to Wimbledon without a win on grass. The 36-year-old lost 5:7, 3:6 to Diana Schneider from Russia at the WTA 500 tennis tournament in Bad Homburg on Monday and suffered her second defeat in her second grass match after her return. Kerber was also knocked out in the first round at the grass event in Berlin last week.
The Kiel native’s Wimbledon preparations have therefore failed. The Grand Slam classic begins next Monday. Kerber, who returned to the tour around the turn of the year after her maternity leave, triumphed there in 2018.
In the left-handed duel with Schneider, who is 16 years younger, she made up a 3:5 in the first set and a 0:2 in the second set, but her Russian opponent was too good. After 78 minutes of play and the next disappointment, Kerber left the court. “I made too simple mistakes in the important moments,” said Kerber: “It didn’t go as I had hoped. And then it’s difficult to chase after on grass. She played it well to the end.”
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Former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Jule Niemeier, on the other hand, achieved a surprising success. The 24-year-old beat top-seeded Greek player Maria Sakkari 2:6, 6:2, 7:6 (7:4) after an improvement in her performance and moved into the second round. There, the Dortmund player will now face Paula Badosa from Spain.
Niemeier had actually already been eliminated in the qualification, but then moved into the main field at short notice as a so-called lucky loser after the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto withdrew.
Like Kerber, Tamara Korpatsch was also eliminated. The Hamburg native lost 1:6, 6:7 (6:8) to fourth-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil. She too slipped into the main draw as a lucky loser. On Sunday, former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria was eliminated in the first round against Viktorija Tomowa from Bulgaria.
