2021 WTA German Open

The 2021 WTA German Open (also known as the bett1open for sponsorship purposes) was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts at the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club in Berlin, Germany from 14 June to 21 June 2021. It was the 94th edition of the event on the 2021 WTA Tour and was classified as a WTA 500 tournament.^[1]

2021 WTA German Open
Date	14–20 June
Edition	94th
Category	WTA 500
Draw	32S / 28Q / 16D
Prize money	$565,530
Surface	Grass
Location	Berlin, Germany
Champions
Singles
Liudmila Samsonova
Doubles
Victoria Azarenka / Aryna Sabalenka

The 2021 relaunch of the German Open marked the first time the WTA Tour returned to Berlin since 2008 after the Qatar Tennis Federation, owners of the original clay tournament usually held prior to the French Open, had sold the sanction back to the Tour.^[1][2] In 2019, the WTA and All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) announced that the WTA Premier (now WTA 500) sanction from the Birmingham Classic would be transferred to a new grass tournament planned to be organized in Berlin.^[3] Originally scheduled for a debut in 2020, the inaugural edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.^[4]

Liudmila Samsonova became the relaunched tournament's debut singles champion after entering the main draw as a qualifier and defeating Belinda Bencic in her maiden WTA Tour career final. The all-Belarusian doubles team of Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka defeated Nicole Melichar and Demi Schuurs in the final to win the new event's first doubles tournament.^[5]

Finals

Singles

Main article: 2021 WTA German Open – Singles

Liudmila Samsonova defeated Belinda Bencic, 1–6, 6–1, 6–3

• It was Samsonova's only singles title of the year and the 1st of her career.

Doubles

Main article: 2021 WTA German Open – Doubles

Victoria Azarenka / Aryna Sabalenka defeated Nicole Melichar / Demi Schuurs, 4–6, 7–5, [10–4]

Singles main-draw entrants

Seeds

Country	Player	Rank[6]	Seed
BLR	Aryna Sabalenka	4	1
UKR	Elina Svitolina	6	2
CAN	Bianca Andreescu	7	3
CZE	Karolína Plíšková	10	4
SUI	Belinda Bencic	11	5
ESP	Garbiñe Muguruza	13	6
BLR	Victoria Azarenka	16	7
CZE	Karolína Muchová	19	8

• Rankings are as of May 31, 2021.^[7][8]

Other entrants

The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:

• Anna Kalinskaya
• Andrea Petkovic

The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:

• Hailey Baptiste
• Misaki Doi
• Magdalena Fręch
• Asia Muhammad
• Jule Niemeier
• Liudmila Samsonova

Withdrawals

Before the tournament

• Ashleigh Barty → replaced by Madison Keys
• Jennifer Brady → replaced by Angelique Kerber
• Sofia Kenin → replaced by Jessica Pegula
• Petra Kvitová → replaced by Shelby Rogers
• Naomi Osaka → replaced by Petra Martić
• Maria Sakkari → replaced by Veronika Kudermetova
• Iga Świątek → replaced by Ekaterina Alexandrova

Doubles main-draw entrants

Seeds

Country	Player	Country	Player	Rank1	Seed
USA	Nicole Melichar	NED	Demi Schuurs	19	1
JPN	Shuko Aoyama	JPN	Ena Shibahara	26	2
CHI	Alexa Guarachi	USA	Desirae Krawczyk	32	3
BLR	Aryna Sabalenka	BLR	Victoria Azarenka	52	4

• ¹ Rankings are as of 31 May 2021.

Other entrants

The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:

• Julia Middendorf / Noma Noha Akugue
• Garbiñe Muguruza / Andrea Petkovic

Withdrawals

Before the tournament

• Veronika Kudermetova / Elena Vesnina → replaced by Veronika Kudermetova / Markéta Vondroušová