Jule Niemeier threw away her racket, buried her face in her hands and kept touching her heart.

In a nerve-racking thriller, the 22-year-old from Dortmund continued her winning streak at the grass classic in Wimbledon and reached the round of 16 for the first time.

The German tennis hope defeated the Ukrainian Lessia Zurenko 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 3 on Friday and confirmed her previous success against the third in the world rankings Anett Kontaveit from Estonia.

In a break festival, both players stole the serve a total of 21 times.

After 2:04 hours, Niemeier converted the first match point through a backhand mistake by her opponent.

"It was an emotional roller coaster ride.

I'm immensely proud that she managed to be there again and again in the important phases, to play actively enough," said coach Christopher Kas.

"We're on a certain cloud, and we'll just keep riding it and then we'll see how far it takes us."

219,000 euros bonus

For the biggest success of her career so far, she collects the equivalent of 219,000 euros.

In her Wimbledon debut, Niemeier now meets Kaja Juvan from Slovenia or Brit Heather Watson, who defeated Tamara Korpatsch in the first round.

“I love playing on grass.

That suits my game,” Niemeier said before the game.

“I love playing slice, stops, going to the net.

When I serve well, it's hard to break myself." Niemeier hadn't conceded a break in her two confident two-set victories in the tournament - and gave up her serve against Zurenko right at the beginning of a total of ten times, and that equal to zero.

"The match after a match like this isn't easy," her coach Kas had said in view of the much-noticed success of Kontaveit, who was number two.

He will later claim to be "a little bit proud" of his protégé: "For the first time at Wimbledon, for the first time in the third round, after beating number 2."

The beginning was nervous, in the first three games alone Niemeier made ten unforced errors, and it quickly became 0:3.

With brains

Instead of playing on court 1 in the second largest stadium, Niemeier played on outdoor court 18, and in windy conditions the world rankings came 97th.

but finally got better and better, equalized to 3:3.

With her forehand and stop balls, Niemeier now dominated the game.

A mistake by Zurenko sealed the win of the first set after 49 minutes.

However, the sense of achievement did not ensure consistency.

Again Niemeier had to accept two service losses in a row (in the end eleven double faults and ten breaks), again it was 0:3.

Although she was able to equalize again as in the first set, the security did not return.

Zurenko mainly attacked the second serve and got the through after a failed shot by Niemeier at the net.

At the start of the third set there were five breaks in a row, and Niemeier went to the bench with a disbelieving smile at 3:2.

In her first two Wimbledon matches, she hadn't even given up her serve.

With a volley, the Dortmund woman then got the first serve of the round and held her index finger to her temple.

With brains, Niemeier brought the match home.

The wild card, which the German Tennis Association had ready for the small tournament in Versmold in Westphalia next week, can now be given elsewhere by the association.

Niemeier remains on the most important tennis stage in the world.