LOkalmatador Andrea Petkovic was eliminated in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open. The 34-year-old from Darmstadt lost 1: 6, 2: 6 to world number 12 Darja Kassatkina from Russia on Sunday in the lawn tennis tournament, which was endowed with around 240,000 euros.
Petkovic was last eliminated at the grass tournament in Berlin in the round of 16 against Alexandra Sasnowitsch (Belarus), but before that he had surprisingly knocked out the former world number one Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain).
Angelique Kerber starts on Monday
“I lost the match because she was simply much better,” said Petkovic after the end. The first set was over quickly because Kassatkina kept her quality consistently good. “In the first one it wasn’t a tennis match and I made 700 mistakes,” she said self-critically. “In the second set it was closer than the result says.” Petkovic’s next goal is now the Wimbledon tournament.
Defending champion Angelique Kerber starts this Monday (4.30 p.m.) in the tournament. The 34-year-old 2018 Wimbledon champion plays against qualifier Anastasia Gasanova from Russia. Kerber did not start in Berlin and chose Bad Homburg as the last preparation for Wimbledon from June 27th to July 10th. She made it to the semifinals last year.
There is a question mark over Sabine Lisicki’s first round match against Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. The Swiss had to give up on Sunday in the final of the grass tournament in Berlin against the Tunisian Ons Jabeur due to injury. Bencic sprained his left foot and sustained an ankle injury.
If she were to drop out, Hamburg’s Tamara Korpatsch, who lost to British Katie Swan in qualifying, could move back into the main draw and play against Lisicki. Against the Russian Anastassija Potapova another German will play in Tatjana Maria on Monday.
