Tatjana
Maria and
Alexander Zverev advanced to the semifinals, while Noma Akugue Noha
reached her first WTA 250 final.
It has been
a great week for German tennis, both on the ATP and WTA tours, as three of
their players have progressed in their respective tournaments.
35-year-old
Tatjana Maria reached the semifinals of the
Warsaw Open after defeating
Slovakian player Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Maria had
previously defeated lucky loser Natalija Stevanovic and Clara Tauson in the
first and second rounds, respectively.
As the
first semifinalist, Maria awaits her opponent, who will emerge from the match
between Italian player Lucrezia Stefanini and German player Laura Siegemund,
potentially setting up an all-German semifinal.
In the WTA
250
Hamburg European Open, another rising German star, 19-year-old
Noma Noha Akugue,
continued her impressive run, reaching her first WTA final in her debut
appearance in the main draw.
She had
notable wins over Laura Pigossi, Storm Sanders, former French Open semifinalist
Martina Trevisan, and Diana Shnaider, all with a score of 6-3, 6-3.
With this
performance, Akugue is set to climb in the rankings from No. 207 to at least
No. 142. In the final, where she is playing on home soil, Akugue will face the
7th seed Arantxa Rus this Saturday, and a victory would secure her first
professional title and a place in the top 120.
In the same
city of Hamburg, Sascha Zverev has had a successful journey in the ATP 500
tournament. The former world No. 2 advanced to the semifinals after defeating
Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-4. In previous rounds, he had already defeated Alex
Molcan and his compatriot
Maximilian Marterer without much trouble.
Zverev has
yet to drop a set to his opponents and will now face French player Arthur Fils,
who surprised the first seed Casper Ruud with a 6-0, 6-4 victory. As a result,
'Sascha' is the only seeded player in the tournament to reach the final four
and will aim to reach his first final since the 2022 Madrid Open, where he lost
to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.