Tennis – Niemeier has no chance against Olympic champion at US Open – Sport

New York (dpa) – Jule Niemeier clearly missed a surprise against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen at the US Open and was the last German tennis player to be eliminated in the third round. The 25-year-old from Dortmund had little chance in the 2:6, 1:6 defeat against the strong Chinese player in 81 minutes. The former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Niemeier will climb back into the top 90 of the world rankings after the Grand Slam tournament in New York and replace Laura Siegemund as the best-placed German player.

Zheng ended Angelique Kerber’s career at the Paris Summer Games and then won the first tennis singles gold for China. Two years ago, Niemeier defeated the current world number seven in the third round, but now had to admit defeat.

Niemeier got off to a good start, and after a strong serve, a first murmur went around the Grandstand, the third largest stadium at the US Open. Both players relied on powerful, risky groundstrokes, and Zheng dominated the party with her serves. In the middle of the first set, more and more errors crept into Niemeier’s game, and she lost her serve twice in a row.

Treatment of a blister

When the score was 2:5, they had a blister on the big toe of their left foot treated, just like in their second-round victory over the Japanese Moyuka Uchijima. A little later, the set was already over and Niemeier disappeared from the court. But things didn’t go any better at the start of the second set, with Zheng winning seven points in a row. After a successful volley, Niemeier fired up the crowd once again – but he couldn’t turn things around.

Since reaching the round of 16 in 2022, Niemeier had not made it past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament until this edition of the US Open. However, she has stopped her fall to 175th place in the world.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:240830-930-217363/2