Laura Siegemund has won her first round game at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She defeated Czech Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-3 late on Tuesday evening after almost two hours of play.
By Florian Goosmann from Stuttgart
On Tuesday evening, one felt directly transported back a year: Laura Siegemund entered the Porsche Arena to great applause, waving long and marching resolutely to the bank, dressed in black and wearing compression stockings, as in the previous year. The bandage she wore at the tournaments before and at the tiebreak event the day before – gone.
Never change a winning outfit? A year ago, Siegemund played the week of her life, won over three top ten players and finally clinched her biggest tournament victory.
After that followed a bitter period of suffering. The rupture of the cruciate ligament, which she suffered only shortly afterwards at the tournament in Nuremberg, put her out of action until the beginning of March – but Siegemund seemed to have never left Stuttgart.
Against Barbora Strycova, there was the expected game between two players with a lot of feeling and humour, who love to stop, who dominate the game on the net. And Siegemund unpacked the whole program right at the beginning. She broke directly, won 2-0 in a marathon service game with the fine combination of stop and pass ball, with which she annoyed Strycova again and again.
After more than an hour of play, the first set went to the defending champion, who also stayed at the beginning in round two and finally Strycova lost the serve again for 3:2 – and finally again to win the match.
“I was very focused – I think it was a good match to watch. I am very happy that I can play tennis again and can be here,” Siegemund said afterwards. “The mood is insane. I’ve decided to take it easy and have fun. Then I usually play my best tennis. Of course I have a sand court, and considering how long I couldn’t bend my knee – but I’m on my way really fast,” she continued joking.
On Wednesday the two-time winner Angelique Kerber and Carina Witthöft will also take part. Witthöft, who is in the main draw as Lucky Loser, will play qualifier Zarina Diyas in the afternoon; Kerber will meet Petra Kvitova from 6.30 pm, against whom she lost at the Fed Cup on Sunday. Late in the evening, the world’s number one, Simona Halep, will play Magdalena Rybarikova.
The single tableau at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix