The journey continues in Auckland for Germany’s rising star. Venus Williams suffers defeat.
Ella Seidel has made a successful start to the new tennis season. The 20-year-old from Hamburg won her opening match at the WTA tournament in Auckland with ease, beating New Zealand’s Monique Barry 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the round of 16. There, Seidel will face Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
Seidel is preparing in New Zealand for the Australian Open, which begins on January 18 in Melbourne. She will be in the main draw for the first time at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Thanks to strong performances, the promising player made it into the top 100 in the world rankings in the fall.
Venus Williams also started her tennis season in Auckland on Tuesday, but the 45-year-old was eliminated in the first round in her first match since the US Open in August.
The seven-time Grand Slam winner, who will set an age record at the Australian Open thanks to a wild card, lost to Poland’s Magda Linette 4-6, 6-4, 2-6. Former world number one Williams will now head to the warm-up tournament in Hobart before playing in Melbourne for the first time since 2021.
