Porsche Grand Prix-Four Germans advance to second round of qualifying
Stuttgart. Eight home-grown players began the opening qualifying round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and at the end of the day, which included many excellent matches, four have made it through to the second round. A great performance as the qualifying event at the 740,000 dollar long-standing tournament is a high-class tournament in itself. The Romanian world No. 40 Sorana Cirstea was the highest ranked player, and lost easily 6-1, 6-0 in the first round against the Russian Anna Chakvetadze. A world ranking of lower than 30 was required this year to guarantee a place in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix main draw.
Qualifying began successfully for two of the four members of the Porsche Talent Team Germany. One had a tough job on her hands, namely Carina Witthöft against the world No. 43 Tsvetana Pironkova. In the end, the world No. 416 earned a hard-fought 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win again the second-seeded Bulgarian. Annika Beck overcame Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 7-6(4) in the opening game of the tournament. Beck will now meet Anastasia Pivovarova after the Russian overcame 20-year-old Dinah Pfizenmaier 6-4, 7-6(4). Qualifying first round also marked the final stop for Antonia Lottner. Playing fellow German Anna-Lena Friedsam the 15-year-old junior put up stiff resistance, especially in the second set, but eventually lost 6-2, 7-6(4) against her three years older compatriot.
Into round two on the other hand is Germany’s Tatjana Malek. The 24-year-old gave the Slovakian no chance in her comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory. Julia Kimmelmann’s encounter with her opponent Irena Pavlovic was the day’s longest by far. In a match that lasted 2:32 hours, the Frenchwoman outlasted the German 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Sarah Gronert (Germany) also had to work overtime in the Porsche Arena. Playing Akgul Amanmuradova she eventually lost 7-6(3), 7-6(3). The time when the Uzbek converted her first match point was almost midnight.
