European Open - Hamburg

A WTA 250 on outdoor clay in Hamburg, sharing a clay fortnight with Iasi. This is about as slow as the tour gets: aces are almost nonexistent, holds fall to 56% and breaks pile up while tiebreaks barely happen. Fewer than half of matches finish in straights, so the favourite is rarely safe. Grinders and heavy returners thrive, and Bondar and Rus have each reached more than one final.