EFirst round instead of another high: Tatjana Maria failed despite a big fight at her high opening hurdle at the US Open. The 35-year-old from Bad Saulgau lost to world number three Maria Sakkari from Greece on Monday 4: 6, 6: 3, 0: 6. Maria was not able to continue her sensational run at Wimbledon, which, among other things, only ended in the semi-finals after beating Sakkari.
The world rankings-85. failed as the first of four German starters. On Tuesday Laura Siegemund (Metzingen) meets the Romanian Sorana Cirstea, Andrea Petkovic (Darmstadt) takes on the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland after the announcement of her career end. Jule Niemeier (Dortmund) challenges the former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin from the USA.
Maria started strong against Sakkari, taking a 3-0 lead with her unconventional style of play, but then lost control of the game and conceded two double faults to lose the game when the score was 4-4. She missed subsequent chances for a direct re-break, but hit back in the second set. In the decisive round, Sakkari pushed the pace and prevailed.
