The success story of Noma Noha Akugue at the tennis tournament in Hamburg continues. The 19-year-old from Reinbek won the semifinals against the Russian Diana Schnaider 6:3, 6:3 at Rothenbaum on Friday and is in the final at her first WTA event on Saturday (3 p.m.).
“I can’t believe what happened. I’m so happy. I hope I can play my best tennis tomorrow and maybe win the tournament,” said the finalist. Her opponent will be Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands, who defeated Australian qualifier Daria Saville 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Steffi Graf achieved the last German victory in the Hanseatic city in 1992. Most recently, Andrea Petkovic reached the Hamburg final in 2021.
The world rankings-207. dominated the match in front of their home crowd from the start. Akugue quickly took the service game from the 101st in the world rankings and made the Russian despair with her shots and her willingness to run. The tennis surprise from Rothenbaum won the first set 6:3. In the second round, the talent continued the great form of the tournament so far and won after 1:18 hours.
Alexander Zverev can also continue to dream of his first home win in Hamburg. The Olympic champion showed his good form on Friday in a 6:3, 6:4 win over Frenchman Luca Van Assche and reached the semi-finals. There the 26-year-old will face top seed Casper Ruud from Norway or Frenchman Arthur Fils on Saturday. Zverev has not made it past the semi-finals in five appearances at Rothenbaum. In the first round, Zverev, number four, had few problems with the 19-year-old Frenchman. After a little more than 40 minutes, the Hamburg player won the first set 6:3. The world number 19 had significantly more difficulties. in the second sentence. Van Assche already led 4:1. But Zverev caught up point by point and after 1:29 hours converted the second match point with an ace into a two-set success.
Daniel Altmaier, on the other hand, missed the semifinals. The world number 61. was defeated by the Chinese Zhang Zhizhen after 1:23 hours 4:6, 4:6.
