Julia Stusek, 18, wins first WTA match at Hamburg Ladies Open, defeating former top-40 player Nadia Podoroska
The 18-year-old wildcard, ranked 435, beat Argentina's Nadia Podoroska 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a 2.5-hour first-round match at the Rothenbaum to reach the last 16.
First tour-level victory
Julia Stusek, an 18-year-old from Rheinfelden ranked 435th in the world, secured her first win on the WTA Tour on Monday at the Hamburg Ladies Open. The German, who entered the main draw via a wildcard, defeated Argentina's Nadia Podoroska 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match that lasted two hours and thirty minutes. Stusek had previously appeared in two WTA main draws, at Bad Homburg in 2024 and Mallorca in October 2025, losing both opening matches. The victory over Podoroska, a former world No. 36 and French Open semifinalist in 2020, marks the biggest result of her young career.
Match details
The contest on Center Court was a tight affair. Stusek held five game points at 4-4 in the first set on her own serve but could not convert, and later missed three break points before Podoroska took the set. After levelling the match, Stusek broke immediately in the decider for a 1-0 lead, only to surrender her serve at 4-4. She broke back straight away and closed out the win on her first match point. The match was described as a marathon by local broadcaster NDR.
- Main-draw debut at Bad Homburg, lost opening match
- Qualified for Mallorca main draw, lost first round
- First WTA win at Hamburg, beats Podoroska in three sets
What's next
Stusek advances to the round of 16, where she will face either local favourite Tamara Korpatsch or Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra. Their first-round match is scheduled for Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Nastasja Schunk takes on top seed Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine, the world No. 45, and there is an all-German clash between Valentina Steiner and Noma Noha Akugue. Tessa Johanna Brockmann faces France's Elsa Jacquemot. Stusek is one of eight German players in the main draw of the WTA 250 clay-court event, which has no top-40 players in the field.
Other German results
While Stusek celebrated, Hamburg's Ella Seidel suffered another early exit. The 21-year-old, ranked 103rd, chose to play on hard court in Prague instead of her home tournament and lost to Ukraine's Daria Snigur 5-7, 6-3, 3-6. Seidel has not won a tour-level match since February, when she reached the second round in Dubai before retiring injured. In Hamburg, second seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine beat Spain's Kaitlin Quevedo 7-5, 6-4. Qualifiers Jule Niemeier and Mona Barthel also made the main draw; Niemeier will play Argentina's Maria Lourdes Carle, while Barthel meets Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva. Victoria Brand, 16, lost 3-6, 3-6 to Russia's Elena Pridankina in the second round of qualifying, and Anna Petkovic and Emily Victoria Eigelsbach were eliminated earlier.
