TALENTED up and comer, Jil Teichmann surprised all when she took out the 30th Palermo Ladies Open last year, coming through victorious in the final against raging favourite and top seed, Kiki Bertens. In that match, Teichmann won 7-6 6-2 in an hour and 52 minutes on the Italian clay.

She played a consistent game, serving at 67.1 per cent and winning 64.2 per cent of her first serve points, whilst saving four of a possible seven break point opportunities. Bertens was not as clinical, serving at under 60 per cent, with just a 54.5 per cent first serve points record, and broken five times by her younger opponent. The result reversed the previous clash between the two, where Bertens accounted for an 18-year-old Teichmann, ironically by the same scoreline as the Palermo final, 7-6 6-2 back in Luxembourg.

The Palermo title was the Swiss talent’s second, backing up her one at Prague earlier in the year and consolidated her spot inside the top 100. Rewinding to day eight of Palermo and Teichmann had no problems skipping past Liudmila Samsonova, 6-3 6-1 in 78 minutes. Likewise, Bertens accounted for Paula Badosa 6-1 7-5, though in just over an hour and a half on court.

The going had been tougher for Bertens against home court fan favourite Jasmine Paolini in the quarters, dropping the second set before steadying to win 6-4 1-6 6-1 in an hour and 48 minutes. By comparison, Teichmann spent just 32 minutes on court and raced to a 6-0 1-0 lead before German Anna-Lena Friedsam retired. In the other quarter finals, Badosa sent Bertens’ compatriot Arantxa Rus packing in a 6-2 6-1 73-minute demolition job, while Samsonova had the longest struggle, overcoming Fiona Ferro in a come-from-behind 6-7 6-3 6-4 epic.

The Round of 16 had seen three of the top four seeds all bundled out, as second seed Alize Cornet lost to Friedsam 7-5 6-4, Rus trampled third seed Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4 6-4, and Samsonova accounted for fourth seed Tamara Zidansek 6-2 7-5. It showed that rankings meant little when it came to the tournament. Teichmann’s road to the final eight included wins over Daria Gavrilova of Australia, and Brazil’s Gabriela Ce.

While unfortunately Teichmann has chosen not to return to defend her title in 2020, no doubt it will not be long before the Swiss up and comer returns back to the court.