The opening day of qualifying at the LADIES OPEN Amstetten 2026 (Sunday, July 19 2026) ended in disappointment for the home players. Eight Austrians took to the courts, but none managed to advance to the second round of qualifying.
Liel-Marlies Rothensteiner opened the action on Centre Court against top seed Aneta Laboutková of the Czech Republic. She was defeated 2-6, 1-6 in just under an hour. Afterwards, her coach Philipp Gille said: “Her opponent was very experienced. Whenever Liel was able to stick to her game plan and use heavy topspin to the opponent’s backhand, she was competitive. Overall, though, she lacked consistency and that ultimately cost her the match.”
Local favourite Chiara Semmelmeyer suffered the same fate, losing 2-6, 1-6 to Sara Mikaca of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 20-year-old who trains in Amstetten, was unable to find her rhythm against the Bosnian.
Three-set heartbreaks
Away from Centre Court, Lea Sabadi made the stronger start against Poland’s Zuzanna Bednarz and captured the opening set. The match remained evenly balanced, but the 18-year-old eventually fell short.
“I was very nervous at the beginning, but I still started the match well. There were a lot of long and close rallies, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough in the end,” Sabadi said afterwards.
One of the day’s most heartbreaking defeats came for Leonie Rabl. After taking the first set 6-2, she dropped the second 0-6. In the deciding set she raced into a 4-0 lead and even had a game point for 5-0 before Romania’s Stefania Bojica staged a remarkable comeback to win the final set 7-5.
Coach Philipp Gille reflected: “Leonie played very well in the first set. In the second, Bojica was simply the better player and handled the rain and windy conditions more effectively. In the end it became a mental battle that demanded a lot of energy from both players. It was a match of a very high standard. Ultimately, the player who was a little fitter and more consistent came out on top.”
Claudia Gasparovic also came within touching distance of the second qualifying round. After losing the opening set 1-6, she fought back to level the match 6-4 and forced a deciding match tie-break.
Despite struggling physically, she stayed with her opponent until the very end but narrowly lost 5-7 in the tie-break to Germany’s Franziska Sziedat.
New opportunities in the main draw
The second round of qualifying on Monday (July 20 2026) will therefore take place without Austrian participation.
At the same time, the main draw of the LADIES OPEN Amstetten gets underway.
Austria’s first representative in the main draw will be wildcard holder Ava Schüller, who faces sixth seed Anna Sisková of the Czech Republic on Monday. The remaining Austrian players in the main draw will play their opening-round matches on Tuesday (July 20 2026).
Source: Media Relations of ITF W100 Amstetten