For the first time in two years, Jule Niemeier is in the third round of the US Open. But the duel with the Chinese Zheng Qinwen ends differently than in 2022.
Jule Niemeier clearly missed a chance to pull off 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 her 81-minute match against the strong Chinese player, losing 2:6, 1:6. The former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Niemeier will move back into the top 90 of the world rankings after the Grand Slam tournament in New York and could replace Laura Siegemund as the best-ranked 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 murmur went around the Grandstand, the third largest stadium at the US Open. Both players relied on powerful, risky groundstrokes, and Zheng dominated the match 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, she had a blister on the big toe of her left foot treated, as she had done in her 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 she was unable to 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.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
