Tennis: Maria sensationally reaches the London final

Tennis player Tatjana Maria continued her sensational winning streak in London, reaching the final of a WTA 500 tournament for the first time in her career. The 37-year-old from Swabia also surprised everyone in the semifinals with a 6:3, 7:6 (7:3) victory over the clear favorite, Australian Open winner Madison Keys of the USA. "The dream run continues," wrote the organizer on the X platform. At 37 years and 312 days, the former Wimbledon semifinalist is now the oldest player to appear in a WTA 500 final. In the final of the grass-court tournament, Maria will face either top seed Zheng Qinwen of China or American Amanda Anisimova. The tournament at Queen's Club is an important benchmark for the grass-court classic Wimbledon from June 30 to July 13. Maria had already become a threat to the favorites in the previous rounds on her favorite surface. In the quarterfinals, the world number 86 also pulled off a coup against former Wimbledon champion Jelena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. Before that, she had defeated former Canadian US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and Czech Karolina Muchova. In 2022, Maria achieved her greatest success at Grand Slam level by reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, top German player Alexander Zverev is aiming for his 25th title in the grass tennis tournament in Stuttgart in a final against a bogeyman. The Tokyo Olympic champion won his close semifinal at the Weissenhof against US player Ben Shelton 7:6 (10:8), 7:6 (7:1).

In Sunday's final, Zverev will face Shelton's compatriot Taylor Fritz, against whom he lost four consecutive matches last year. Should the 28-year-old from Hamburg prevail this time, he would secure his first grass-court tournament victory ten days after his French Open disappointment.