Home fans favorite and No. 3 seed Ana Bogdan has been defeated by German Jule Niemeier in Transylvania Open round one: 7-6(5), 6-2.
Ana has arrived in Cluj in very good form, after four semifinals and her first WTA trophy. She won 16 of her last 20 matches and today has shown a lot of good things, but she couldn’t resist in front of Niemeier, who has been both aggressive and inspired.
„It wasn’t an easy beginning from my side, but then we both started to play really well. It was an intense match, even in the second game. I knew I had to play every ball 100%, otherwise, everything should have changed, so I’m really glad I played 100% today”, Niemeier said at the post-match interview.
The German dominated the match with her powerful forehand. She proved to be very inspired during the tie-break, a moment which boosted her confidence.
Ana Bogdan tried to keep up at the beginning of the second set, but she couldn’t change the course of the match. More lucid and more precise, Niemeier continued to dictate the points from the baseline, had impeccable service, and closed the encounter at her first match point.
During the post-match interview, Horia Tecău asked her about her progress this year, when she reached quarterfinals in Wimbledon. She answered praising her coach, Christopher Kaas:
„He‘s a really positive person, he is very important to me, but also for my game. I’m trying to play offensive tennis and I have to accept I’m making mistakes, and he’s helping me a lot with that. We have a really good run, so I’m really happy with the way we are working together”, Jule added, before thanking the crowd for their support.
Niemeier, 23, is having the best season of her career. In round 2 she will play against the winner between Danilovic and Rakhimova. And if she continues to hit as she did against Ana Bogdan, she can expect to reach the final rounds at Transylvania Open.
