Lilli Tagger reaches the main draw of the WTA 250 tournament in Athens

The WTA 250 tournament in Athens is played on hard court and is part of the regular Women's Tennis Association tournament series below the highest category. For Tagger, qualifying means the opportunity to collect valuable world ranking points and gain experience at the international level.

The 18-year-old is thus one of the youngest Austrian players to have made the jump into a WTA main draw this season. In recent years, the ÖTV has increasingly focused on promoting young talent.

Setback for Neumayer in Umag

On the same tennis weekend, another ÖTV commitment proved less successful. Lukas Neumayer was eliminated at the ATP 250 event in Umag already in the second round of qualifying. He lost to Germany's Marko Topo 6-7 (7/) 5-7.

For Neumayer, it was not a successful outing, as the available report indicates. The Croatian tournament venue of Umag is also part of the ATP 250 series, but on clay. The defeat means that Neumayer will take no additional points from this tournament into the next world rankings.

The contrast between Tagger and Neumayer on the same weekend illustrates the breadth of Austrian tennis activity on the international tour. While one player makes the jump into the main draw, the other has to strike his sails early.

Outlook on the main draw

Tagger can now face potentially notable opponents in the main draw of the Athens tournament. The main draw had not yet been conducted at the time of reporting. Experience shows that a qualifier often meets a seeded player in the first round of the main draw.

For the young ÖTV player's further season planning, Athens is an important stop along the way. Further tournaments on the WTA Tour and at ITF level are on the schedule in the coming weeks in order to continue improving her position in the world rankings.