By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday June 29, 2022
Germany's Jule Niemeier is into the third round on her Wimbledon debut.
Photo Source: Getty
Score another one for the underdog at Wimbledon.
World No.97 Jule Niemeier of Germany had never won a match at a Grand Slam prior to this week – never even faced a Top-10 player, let alone top three.
She’s ticked all of those boxes through two rounds, and after her 6-4, 6-0 thumping of No.2-seeded Anett Kontaveit on Day 3, she’s in position to reach the second week.
Niemeier needed just 58 minutes to saunter past the Estonian, as she converted all four break points she saw and never faced a break point on serve. The 22-year-old German has dropped just nine games through two rounds.
“Amazing,” she told the crowd. “I’m speechless to be honest, it’s one of the biggest wins of my career so far, winning a match here at Wimbledon, on Court No.1, is such an amazing feeling.”
Niemeier, making just her second main draw appearance at a Slam, will face either Anhelina Kalinina or Lesia Tsurenko in the third round in a wide open section of the draw that is now anchored by No.5 seed Maria Sakkari.
No.14-seeded Belinda Bencic and No.23-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia have already fallen by the wayside in Niemeier’s section, and no seeded player stands between the German and the quarterfinals.
“I think it was one of the best matches I played,” Niemeier said. “I’m happy how I could handle the situation today.”
Working in Niemeier’s favor is her love of the grass.
“I love playing on grass, to be honest,” she said. “It’s a special surface, it’s different. You have to get used to it, but it suits my game.”
Kontaveit struggling to regain form after Covid
It has been a while since Anett Kontaveit contracted Covid-19 (she estimates about two months ago), but the Estonian didn't help herself this spring when she tried to return to tennis too quickly.
After that, things got worse for her.
"After the French, I tried to start training again, and it just got worse," she said. "I started feeling more and more tired.
"Then I decided to take a complete break for a couple of weeks, I think, and I felt like my energy was starting to come back. I started easier, started just with gym, and then it was only, I don't know, 10 days until Wimbledon.
"I was thinking I wasn't going to come if I didn't think I could play a match or finish a match. I actually started feeling better in practice. I added tennis. Already felt pretty good. But it's still - I had, I don't know, a week to play tennis before a Grand Slam, so of course I'm not in the physical shape that I would like to be in."
Pliskova reaches round two
Stranded out on No.1 Court last night with Tereza Martincova when play was suspended due to the Wimbledon curfew, Karolina Pliskova finished off her first-round win, 7-6(1), 7-5. Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, seeded sixth, will face Great Britain’s Katie Boulter in the second round.