Following a successful maiden tournament in 2013, the world class tennis is back in Nürnberg for the Nürnberger Versicherungscup, Germany’s second WTA event.
A week before Roland Garros, Nürnberg has attracted a mix of established names and promising WTA juniors, including Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina & Eugenie Bouchard that will mix and mingle with some of Germany’s most promising tennis prospects, spearheaded by German #1 Angelique Kerber.
To accommodate the nearing French Open, the tournament will end on Friday as first-round action is due to start on Sunday. But first, qualifying has to be completed, starting with the first round that wrapped up earlier today.
The first day of on-court action had plenty of surprises in store. One of them was Katharina Gerlach, the 16-year old German entered qualifying with a wild card and despite not even having a WTA ranking yet, Gerlach won her match in straight sets, beating world #228 Ana Vrljic.
The youngster’s win wasn’t the only upset of the day as the qualifying top seed Katarzyna Piter failed to advance to the second round, losing a tightly-contested three-setter against Dia Evtimova. Other qualifying top seeds faired much better as both Julia Glushko & Petra Martic are through to the second round.
Another young German wild card player, Luisa-Marie Huber, tried to make most of her unique opportunity. The 18-year old faced Anastasia Rodionova and the Australian proved to be a nut too tough to crack for the inexperienced German. Aside from Rodionova’s experience, the Australian also brought her trademark antics to the table, the usual yelling and complaining was topped by Rodionova picking fights with elderly spectators during her match.
While qualifying was going on, Genie Bouchard was busy on the practice court for several hours as the Canadian has made an early arrival to Nürnberg, following some disappointing clay results in recent weeks.
Keep checking back as Women’s Tennis Blog will be keeping up with the Nürnberger Versicherungscup all week!
