Carina Witthöft has benefited from the rejection of the defeated Auckland winner Julia Görges and stands as Lucky Loser in the main field of Sydney.
The world rankings-49. from Hamburg had lost their decisive qualifying match against the Italian Camila Giorgi on Sunday with 4:6,1:6, but only a short time later Witthöft slipped into the “Main Draw” of the 799,000 dollar Hartplatzturniers because of Görges’ decision not to start. A few hours after her triumph in Auckland, Görges had cited an injury to her right knee as the reason for her Sydney cancellation.
In the first round Witthöft will face former US Open winner Samantha Stosur (Australia). Angelique Kerber gets it already on Monday in a left-handed duel with Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic. The Kieler, together with Alexander Zverev (Hamburg) had lost the final of the Hopman Cup in Perth 1:2 against the Swiss team led by Roger Federer. Should the resurgent Kerber defeat Safarova, the second seed Venus Williams (USA) would wait in the next round.