Lesson for Carina Witthöft in the world’s largest tennis stadium: The 23-year-old from Hamburg had no chance in the second round of the US Open in New York against 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.
Witthöft lost 2:6, 2:6 after 67 minutes in the Arthur Ashe stadium of the 13 years older American.
After the third day of the tournament in Flushing Meadows only one German player is still in the competition: Wimbledon winner Angelique Kerber (Kiel/No. 4) will meet Johanna Larsson from Sweden in her second round match on Thursday (6 p.m. CEST). Seven players qualified for the main field of the US Open.
Before Witthöft Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe/No. 9) and Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau) lost on Wednesday. Gorges lost to the Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6:7 (10:12), 3:6, Maria was against the seventh seeded Ukrainian Yelena Switolina at 2:6, 3:6 far away from entering the third round.
Wimbledon finalist Williams (36), who was missing last year in New York because of the birth of her daughter Olympia, will play her older sister Venus for the round of 16 on Friday. Of the 29 duels to date, Serena has won 17, the last in March’s Indian Wells, Serena’s comeback tournament on the WTA Tour, Venus won in two sets.
In the meantime, however, the number one of many years is once again approaching its best form. With 13 aces and a total of 30 winning strokes, Serena Williams dominated the match against Witthöft at will.
Here is the women’s single tableau at the US Open 2018