That’s the beginning! Schneider confidently advanced to the quarterfinals in Hamburg, leaving no chance for his opponent.
Kirill Veyovich July 25, 2023, 20:12 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The 19-year-old Russian successfully overcame the second round barrier. But Maria Timofeeva could not support the success of her compatriot.
In the last week of July, several ATP and WTA tournaments are held with the participation of Russian tennis players. On Tuesday, July 25, three matches were scheduled, in which our compatriots were supposed to enter the field. The Russians played their fights today only at the competitions in Hamburg. The women’s tournament in this German city ran from 1982 to 2002, then appeared on tour again in 2021. The current champion is American Bernarda Pera.
Maria Timofeeva was the first of the national tennis players to enter the court in Hamburg. The 19-year-old Russian stunned the tennis world over the weekend by winning her first WTA tournament in Budapest as a lucky loser (amazingly, the third lucky loser in women’s tour history to take the title). The last time the champion in her first competition was the Romanian tennis player Alexandra Dulgheru, who won the Warsaw tournament in 2009. Therefore, Maria’s success can already be called unique. For him, a talented Russian woman received a special invitation to Hamburg. On the eve of a new beginning, fans had a reasonable question: what will Timofeeva show in her first match after her triumph and will her winning streak last?
It is worth noting that Maria celebrated her first title in a rather modest setting. This is how the athlete commented on the victory celebration. “The celebration turned out to be chaotic, to be honest, because the match ended quite late: before the award ceremony, we arrived at the hotel, and it was already almost 10 pm. As a result, we modestly sit in a restaurant with a coach and my mother. And already at 6:30 in the morning we left for the airport to fly to Hamburg. Therefore, I really did not have time to enjoy the victory, ”Timofeeva said in an interview with the Championship.
At the same time, the new Russian women’s tennis star said that at the moment she had no idols, but she was impressed with Arina Sobolenko’s game. “At the moment I don’t have idols in women’s tennis, but I like the way Arina Sobolenko plays. It is always interesting to watch her. I would love to play and try my luck against her. And I follow the tournaments in general, a lot of our tennis players are now showing great results in almost every tournament week, which is great!” added Timofeeva.
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Maria did not get the easiest opponent in the first round of the tournament in Hamburg. They became an experienced Dutch Arancha Rus, who is currently 32 years old. Both rivals have never crossed paths on the court until today and thus this was their debut head-to-head battle.
The reported match began with the fact that both girls confidently brought their feeds to the score 3: 2 in favor of the representative of the Netherlands. However, it was the Russian woman who broke tradition first, allowing her opponent to break in the sixth game of the opening game. Timofeeva was visibly nervous, and this did not allow her to show everything that she is really capable of as a 19-year-old athlete. Maria released the thread of the game in the middle and end of the set, which Rus took advantage of and took the remaining two games in it. 6:2 – It was with these numbers that Arancha won the first game.
The second set was initially held in a similar setting. Both opponents took their feed, eventually reaching the score 4:4. At the same time, each of the tennis players could make a break (the fairer sex had a chance to do this in almost every game). However, it was the ninth match of the match that became decisive. On the second attempt, Timofeeva took someone else’s serve, then took her own, and with it the set – 6:4.
Maria Timofeeva
Photo: EPA/TASS
But the third set of the young Russian star failed frankly. If at the beginning of the game Timofeeva heroically saved her shot by playing six break points at once, then Maria was not enough for more. Then the 19-year-old tennis player gave five games in a row at once, which resulted in her final defeat to Rus with a score of 2: 6, 6: 4, 1: 6.
Following Timofeeva and her current offender, another Russian woman appeared on the M4 court – Diana Schneider. The 19-year-old Zhigulevsk native is also one of the main hopes of domestic tennis. The professional career of this athlete began fully in May 2023, when she went directly from the NCAA championship in Florida to Roland Garros. The representative of Russia sets very serious goals for the remainder of the season: Diana intends to end the year among the top 50.
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The draw for the Hamburg competitions identified the young Russian Yulia Graber as a rival. The rivals met at the WTA level for the first time, but last year they already crossed paths on the court. Then, at a small 25 thousand in Turkey, it was Schneider who celebrated victory in straight sets. Today’s matchup was also successful for Diana. In the first set she was able to come back, leaving the score 0: 2, first leveling the position in the match, and then completely taking it. The decisive value in the set of her was played by her tenth game, in which the racket number 101 in the world was still able to realize her third chance and leave the game to herself – 6: 4.
In the second set, the winner of three Grand Slam junior doubles tournaments broke early, allowing Schneider to feel more relaxed on court. The opponents then took games on their serve. It seemed that this tradition would not change until the end of the match. However, Diana ruffled her fans’ nerves a bit, allowing Graber to reach three break points at once in the seventh game of the second set. But still, the Russian woman pulled herself together, didn’t allow someone else to serve her opponent, and she finally made the final break. 6:4, 6:2 – with such a score, Schneider closed this fight.
To reach the semifinals of the German competition, a talented Russian woman will play last year’s tournament champion Bernarda Pera (USA).
