Nine German tennis stars tried their luck in qualifying for the main draw of the Australian Open 2025, only one DTB representative made it into the first round. Once again a sobering result, especially since all of the highly touted talents missed out on participating in the Grand Slam as their goal. At least an experienced player fulfilled his role as favorite.
Placed first in the qualification for the Australian Open 2025 – and reached the main draw. Dominik Koepfer (number 123 in the world rankings) put the surprisingly strong Australian Blake Ellis (338th) in his place on Thursday in a little tennis thriller with 7:5 and 7:5 and thus secured his place in the first round in Melbourne secured.
Koepfer, who was only not in the main draw at Wimbledon in 2024, converted his first match point after a little less than two hours. The fact that the game remained close for a long time is mainly due to Ellis’ strong nerves. The 26-year-old fended off nine of Koepfer’s eleven break chances in the second set alone.
In the first round, Koepfer will now challenge the next local hero: Jordan Thompson (27th), however, is likely to prove to be a much tougher opponent. Down under, however, things haven’t gone particularly well for the winner of the doubles competition at the US Open 2024. Thompson has never made it past the second round at the Australian Open.
Eva Lys overcomes the last hurdle
Meanwhile, Eva Lys (129th) has to wait for her sixth start in the individual field of a Grand Slam. The 22-year-old failed in the qualifying final to Destanee Aiava. The number 195 in the world rankings from Australia previously beat former top 100 players Ana Bogdan and Panna Udvardy in qualifying.
After a weak start to the match, Lys recovered in the second round, but could no longer avoid the 1:6-6:2-4:6 defeat.
Tamara Korpatsch, Anna-Lena Friedsam and Ella Seidel had already failed in the second round, Mona Barthel and Noma Noha Akugue were eliminated in round one. In the men’s race, Henri Squire and Maximilian Marterer had to bury their hopes early.
Source: www.sport.de
