Libema Open 2024 report

Alex de Minaur wins rain-ravaged Libéma Open 2024

Alex de Minaur has won the 2024 Libéma Open, succeeding Tallon Griekspoor, who won the 2023 Libéma Open. De Minaur, who was the top seed at the international tennis tournament in Rosmalen due to Daniil Medvedev's withdrawal, proved too strong for his American opponent Sebastian Korda in the final. The women's tournament also saw a new winner compared to last year, when Ekatarina Alexandrova won in Rosmalen for the second consecutive time. This time, the title went to Liudmila Samsonova, who defeated Canadian Bianca Andreescu in the final.

Continuous rainfall causes delays

From day one of this year's edition, the Libéma Open organizers faced constant rain. This caused the schedule to be significantly disrupted at times. Nevertheless, several Dutch tennis players were able to handle the weather conditions effectively when they could play. Gijs Brouwer, for example, defeated Jakub Mensik in the first round, while Griekspoor ultimately prevailed over Miomir Kecmanovic in a drawn-out marathon match. The first round was less successful for Botic van de Zandschulp and Tim van Rijthoven, who had returned from injury. Van de Zandschulp lost to Mackenzie McDonald in three sets, while Van Rijthoven had to concede defeat to his Belgian opponent, Zizou Bergs.

The Dutch tennis players' results in the first round of the women's tournament were also very mixed. For example, Arantxa Rus, the highest-ranked Dutch woman in the WTA Ranking, couldn't make much of a dent in Dalma Galfi (6-0/6-3), while Eva Vedder and Suzan Lamens showed their best. Vedder put up a good fight against Andreescu and lost in three sets, while Lamens even qualified for the second round. The Dutch player fought back impressively after losing the first set and ultimately prevailed in her match against Bernarda Pera. In the next round, the tennis player from Berkel en Rodenrijs faced Naomi Osaka, who proved to be just a tad too strong: 6-2/6-2.

Tournament ends quickly for former finalist Thompson

At that point, Jordan Thompson, last year's tennis finalist in Rosmalen, had already been eliminated. The Australian faced Milos Raonic and was forced to leave this year's Libéma Open after just two sets. A round later, Griekspoor crossed swords with McDonald, and Brouwer faced former winner Adrian Mannarino. And with success: both Dutch players won their matches and thus qualified for the quarterfinals of the grass-court tournament. At this stage of the tournament, they were joined by De Minaur, Raonic, Ugo Humbert, Aleksandar Vukic, Korda, and Tommy Paul. Karen Khachanov, ranked in the world's top twenty, was no longer in the tournament. He was eliminated in the round of 16 by Australian Vukic.

Favorite Pegula surprisingly quickly eliminated

Another player who was eliminated in the round of 16 – in a very surprising move – was Jessica Pegula. The world number five, the top seed at the Libéma Open, had traveled to Rosmalen as the heavy favorite in the women's tournament but quickly lost to Aleksandra Krunic, who is ranked some four hundred places lower than Pegula in the WTA rankings. Players like Samsonova, Andreescu, Osaka, defending champion Alexandrova, and Belgium's Greet Minnen all managed to reach the quarterfinals. With mixed success: Andreescu defeated Osaka, Alexandrova booked her place in the semifinals with a victory over Robin Montgomery, and Samsonova defeated Minnen.

Griekspoor reaches semi-final of Libéma Open

In the men's quarterfinals, the Dutch players, Griekspoor and Brouwer, still had two aces to ensure victory for the third year in a row, a compatriot. Brouwer, while winning the first set impressively against Humbert (ATP-16), ultimately had to concede defeat to his French opponent. For Griekspoor, it was the other way around: the North Hollander lost the first set but fought back to secure his spot in the semifinals shortly afterward.

However, a final appearance was not in the cards for the defending champion: Korda proved to be the better player in the semifinals of the Libéma Open, and so he was set for a final against Alex de Minaur, who defeated Humbert in his semifinal. The winner of the last edition of the 2024 Libéma Open also lost in the women's semifinals. Alexandrova lost to Samsonova, who was set to face Andreescu in the final. She won her semifinal against Galfi.

No rain on final day

Fortunately for the organizers and spectators of the Libéma Open 2024, the rain at the Autotron site was less severe on the final day. This allowed both the men's and women's finals to proceed as usual. The men's final was rather one-sided: De Minaur quickly proved too strong for Korda, leaving the top-seeded Australian with the trophy in his hands after an hour and a half of tennis in Rosmalen: 6-2/6-2.

The women's final was more exciting. Andreescu took the first set 6-4, after which Samsonova (WTA-15) had to pull out all the stops to turn the tide. And she succeeded: she won the second set 6-3, followed by a 7-5 victory in the third set. With De Minaur and Samsonova, the Libéma Open now has two new winners on its roll of honour.

All winners Libéma Open 2024

Men's singles: Alex de Minaur
Women's singles: Liudmila Samsonova
Men's Doubles: Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow
Women's doubles: Ingrid Neel and Bibiane Schoofs