Kazakhstan's top doubles player Zhibek Kulambayeva (136) started the Hamburg Open with a victory. Partnering with Latvia's Daria Semenista (204), the Almaty native defeated the German duo Tamara Korpatsch (165)/Noma Noha Akugue (270) 6:3, 6:3. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The 26-year-old Kulambayeva continues to impress. Last week, she reached the final of the WTA-250 tournament in Iasi with former Russian Alina Charaeva, who now plays for Armenia. There, they lost only on a championship tie-break to the Czech-Russian duo Anastasia Dețiuc/Irina Khromacheva – 6:4, 2:6, 5:10.

Moving from Romania to Germany and changing partners, the Kazakhstani successfully started at the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open. Starting the match without warm-up, the Kazakh-Latvian tandem dominated the first set – 3:0, 5:1. In the eighth game, the Germans recovered one break but failed to confirm it – 3:6.

In the fourth game of the second set, Kulambayeva and Semenista broke the serve of the dark-skinned German Noha Akugue – 3:1. In the next game on Semenista's serve at 40:40, Kulambayeva confirmed the break with a powerful volley – 4:1.

In the sixth game, the Almaty-Riga duo missed three hidden match points, allowing the opponents to come back from 40:0. However, when it came to real match points, Kulambayeva and her partner confidently closed the match. 6:3, 6:3 in 1 hour 15 minutes. 58:45 – total points won.

In the quarterfinals, Kulambayeva and Semenista will face another mono-national duo. The strong Czech pair Jessica Malečková (54) and Miriam Škoch (53), seeded second in Hamburg, defeated Romanian Irina Bara (192) and Swiss Naima Karamoko (95) in the first round – 2:6, 6:0, 10:3.

Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva (79) will face Elina Avanesyan (208) from Armenia tonight for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The MSC Hamburg Ladies Open, the Hamburg Open on clay courts, has existed in its current form since 1982. It belongs to the WTA-250 category. The prize fund for this year is $283,500.

Steffi Graf won the tournament six times, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario three times. Martina Hingis and Venus Williams each won the main trophy twice. Among the doubles winners are Almaty native Elena Likhovtseva, Martina Navratilova, Anna Kournikova, Jana Novotná, and Mary Pierce.

In 2023, the pair Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan)/Alexandra Panova (Russia) won here.