If the number 101 of the world rankings meets number 104 at the end of a long tennis week, it can mean two things. First: It is the finale of a low-class WTA tournament, in which there is a few ranking points to win and a winning bonus that can be used to live somewhat for a few weeks. The second option: The duel is the round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament, in which the sensational, spectacular and unpredictable is part of the traditional program.
Laura Siegemund, 37, born in Filderstadt, against the Argentine Solana Sierra, 21, born from Mar del Plata. Welcome to Wimbledon, the Theater der Dreams that come true.
The Australian Open winner annoyed Siegemund
So on the Church Road, these two women each face each other in the round of the last sixteen with high start numbers and thus special stories. Sierra experienced a turbulent debut week that resembled the Lucky-Loser story of the Hamburg-based Eva Lys at the Australian Open in January: excreted in qualification, still moving up to the main field because of the withdrawal of a player, quickly attracted something white and then pushed into the round of 16. Siegemund, on the other hand, actually wants to concentrate on doubles and mixed with her 37 years, but suddenly plays as successful in Wimbledon in singles and strikes one set player after another.
On Friday afternoon on Court 2, Madison Keys had to believe: Siegemund defeated the Australian Open winner of the year and the world ranking nights surprisingly quickly and confidently in 93 minutes with 6: 3, 6: 3. The American’s handshake fell briefly and cool, and was too annoyed by the way it was played out by the German and partly shown.
Siegemund attracted Keys with stop balls forward and occasionally followed praise, she countered the massive blows of her counterpart and constantly changed the rhythm. Keys was prepared for everything. But standing on the square in the blazing sun and still feeling bumpy is the other.
In addition to all the finesse, Laura Siegemund always showed herself and her opponent’s fist and presented herself as an energy bundle of determination. When asked whether she didn’t get nerve flutter on the match balls, she replied on the pitch in the winner’s face: “If you have no nerves in such a situation,” you are probably dead. ” Even the spectators who had previously kept with Madison Keys laughed at so much Swabian mother joke.
“There is no pressure for me”
After winning the victory in her first three matches as an outsider, the duel with Sierra is now a duel at eye level. Unsurprisingly, she accepts the challenge – as always without taking care of who will be the next opponent. For the meeting with the Argentinian, what the German had also planned for the duel with keys: “It is a chance, there is no pressure for me.” While she duped the clearly favorite American one time and time, she “tried to remember that I only play for myself,” said Siegemund: “I don’t have to prove anything anymore.”
Her Argentine opponent has been training at the Rafa Nadal tennis academy for several months and has improved a lot since then. Sierra names her compatriot Gabriela Sabatini as a model. So the beautiful player who was in the Wimbledon final in 1991-and lost in three sets. The opponent at that time was a German named Stefanie Graf. Thomas Klemm
