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The Berlin sked shows a little of the sifting sands of tennis with Emma Navarro (despite hanging on in the top 10) unseeded, and former top-10 player Ons Jabeur in – but as a lucky loser.
Jabeur played her first qualifying in about 5 1/2 years over the weekend, but lost to Wang Xinyu – 6-0 in the third set.
She played a qualifier in Caroline Dolehide, and got through after a tough first set.
In Nottingham, Leylah Fernandez was first up and trying to get on board for this grass season. She had far more trouble closing it out – broken at 4-1, 5-2 and 5-4 in the third set. But got through in the end.
(Berlin is 6 hours ahead of EDT; Nottingham is 5 hours ahead)
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Berlin Tennis Open
Location: Berlin, Germany
Surface: Grass
Category: WTA 500
Dates: June 16 – 22, 2025
Prize money: $1,064,510
Draws: S28 – D16
Monday, June 16, 2025
Final results
Singles, first round
Magdalena Frech (POL) def. [6] Mirra Andreeva (RUS) 26 75 60
[8] Paula Badosa (ESP) def. [WC] Eva Lys (GER) 61 64
[LL] Ons Jabeur (TUN) def [Q] Caroline Dolehide (USA) 76 (5) 61
[Q] Rebeka Masarova (SUI) def [Q] Sofia Kenin (USA) 63 62
Emma Navarro (USA) def Marta Kostyuk (UKR) 62 63
[Q] Katerina Siniakova (CZE) def. [Q] Viktoriiya Tomova (BUL) 61 62
Doubles, first round
Ashlyn Krueger / Jessica Pegula (USA) def Daria Kasatkina (AUS) / Donna Vekic (CRO) 64 64
Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) / Olivia Nicholls (GBR) def Jiang Xinu / Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE) 62 75
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Lexus Nottingham Open
Location: Nottingham, UK
Surface: Grass
Category: WTA 250
Dates: June 16 – 22, 2025
Prize money: $275,094
Draws: S32 – D16
Monday, June 16, 2025
Final results
Singles, first round
[5] Leylah Fernandez (CAN) def. Suzan Lamens (NED) 63 46 75
Dayana Yastremska (UKR) def [9] Olga Danilovic (SRB) 64 76 (4)
[2] Clara Tauson (DEN) def. Kimberly Birrell (AUS) 75 62
[4] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) def. [WC] Hannah Klugman (GBR) 62 62
[7] Linda Noskova (CZE) def [LL] Anca Todoni (ROU) 64 36 76 (6)
Anna Blinkova (RUS) def. [Q] Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) 62 63
[Q] Antonia Ruzic (CRO) def Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) 60 64
[PR] Zhu Lin (CHN) def [Q] Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 64 61
Doubles, first round
[3] Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) / Laura Siegemund (GER) def. [WC] Jodie Burrage / Sonay Kartal (GBR) 62 76 (3)
Angelica Moratelli (ITA) / Sabrina Santamaria (USA) def Shuko Aoyama (JPN) / Katarzyna Piter (POL) 46 62 [10-4]
Do we know why Jabeur got the LL ahead of Krueger? Isn’t Krueger the highest seed who lost in Q2?
That’s not how lucky loser selection works.
Particularly if it’s known before the end of the qualifying that there will be one (or more) spots.
Because otherwise what’s to stop a top qualifying seed from just tanking that final round, if she knows she’s getting in?
Also – it doesn’t go by seeding but by last week’s ranking – although practically those two are the same almos always.
If the withdrawals happen AFTER the qualifying is done, then yes, it does go by the highest ranked final-round loser.
If it happens before, they take the number of available LL spots, plus one, and draw them randomly.
Also – the players have to sign in.
Seems like there was one spot – but that Potapova (who was also ranked ahead of Jabeur but gave her opponent a a walkover in the final round of qualifying) didn’t sign in. Must be hurt.
If the first-round match had been the same day as the qualifying, if she withdrew, she wouldn’t be allowed to be a lucky loser. Not the case here.
So they picked the top 2 – Krueger and Jabeur – and Jabeur won the random draw. Or, more truly, Krueger lost it.
There’s more but that’s the gist. That’s what *we* know.
Thanks for the detailed reply. It’s funny you mention “what’s to stop a player from tanking in final round of qualies” because if you look at some of the biggest upsets of the respective weeks, it feels like qualies produces them because some of the higher ranked players must find out, lol
It might “seem” like that.
But I don’t think that’s why it happens. Not even at all.
Going back more than the last few weeks.