At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart on Monday, Paula Badosa battled past Diana Shnaider to set up a match with her friend, the World No 2, Aryna Sabalenka for the second time in as many tournaments, while Veronika Kudermetova rallied from a third set deficit to beat Barbora Krejcikova, and Sachia Vickery defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in a 1st-round tussle between 2 qualifiers.
I’m happy to be back on this surface. Obviously, I really like it, and I missed it. It’s nice to be back. Also I love this tournament. I have really great memories. Hopefully I’m going to create some more memories this year. Iga Swiatek
Badosa looked sharp in her opener, as the Spaniard moved past Shnaider, a Russian qualifier, 6-3 6-4,
Although the 20-year old fended off 4 match points, Badosa, a former No 2, snagged the match on her 5th chance at the indoor clay-court WTA 500 tournament.
Badosa’s 10 double-faults allowed Shnaider 8 break point opportunities, but the young Russian was unable to convert any of them.
The Spaniard’s next opponent is Sabalenka, the No 2 seed, who has finished as the runner-up on her last 3 Stuttgart visits, losing the final to former No 1 Ash Barty in 2021, and then to current No 1 Iga Swiatek in 2022 and 2023.
The 25-year-old Belarusian, who successfully defended her title without the loss of a set at the Australian Open, is hoping that this is her year to get her hands on that elusive Porsche, having endured a difficult time after the apparent suicide of her former boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, as she was preparing to play the Miami Open last month.
She lost in the 3rd-round in Florida before switching her attention to clay, with her sights fixed on the year’s second Grand Slam in Paris, which starts on 26 May.
Last year’s Roland Garros semi-finalist told reporters she started her clay preparations straight after Miami.
“Stuttgart is a good place to start the clay season,” she added. “You’re slowly getting into this ‘clay mood’, sliding, playing long rallies.
“I like to play lots of tournaments before the Grand Slam, so I think it’s a good one to start with.”
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While, historically, clay is her weakest surface, Sabalenka put together the best clay season of her career last spring, when she won the second clay-court title of her career in Madrid, defeating Swiatek in a 3-set final, and was a point away from booking a spot in her first Roland Garros final.
“It’s important for every player to know they’re able to play on each surface, and don’t have this weird feeling going into the specific surface thinking like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s not my place, I’m not going to do well here’,” Sabalenka said on Media Day. “It was really important for me to have this success, to have this belief.”
The loss to Karolina Muchova in Paris, though, still smarts, as Sabalenka led 5-2 in the third, and held a match point before unraveling to lose, 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5.
“Still, probably, hurting,” Sabalenka admitted. “But it’s okay. I always say, ‘We’re not losing, we are learning’. I think that experience was really important for me to learn a lot of stuff. Hopefully, this year, I can do little bit better.”
Veronika Kudermetova rallied from a third set deficit to beat Barbora Krejcikova in Stuttgart
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Meanwhile, Kudermetova saved 9 of 13 break points, fired 4 aces and capitalised on 5 double-faults produced by Krejcikova, including 3 in the third set, to outlast the Czech, 5-7 6-4 6-4.
After losing a 5-3 lead in the first set, the Russian turned the tables on the 2021 French Open champion down the stretch with her 5-game rally from a break down to wrap up the 3 hour, 6 minute battle, one of the longest ever matches in Stuttgart.
Kudermetova next meets 4th-seeded Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan in round 2.
Also on Monday, American Sachia Vickery defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus, 7-6(2) 7-5, and will face No 3 seed Coco Gauff in the next round.
Gauff, Sabalenka, Rybakina and Swiatek all received 1st-round byes in the draw, which features 8 of the Top 10.
Iga Swiatek, who already has won 2 Porsches at Stuttgart, visited the Porsche Museum at Zuffenhausen on Sunday
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Swiatek, who is bidding to become the first 3-time champion in Stuttgart since Maria Sharapova won from 2012-14, opens against either Belgian Elise Mertens or Tatjana Maria from Germany.
The 22-year old Pole is back in her happy place at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
“I’m happy to be back on this surface,” Swiatek told reporters at Media Day after her first practice of the season on clay. “Obviously, I really like it, and I missed it. It’s nice to be back.
“Also I love this tournament. I have really great memories. Hopefully I’m going to create some more memories this year.”
Swiatek has more than just memories from this tournament, where she is a perfect 8-0, but also has the two Porsches she has won, garaged at home.
“When I’m practicing a lot and I’m tired, I like to have peace in my car,” Swiatek said. “I really like how comfortable the Panamera is. Really, I mean, sometimes I’m putting loud music, but overall it’s pretty quiet, pretty smooth. Still you can feel the sporty vibe.
“Sometimes I like to drive a little bit faster, but not too crazy. Obviously, I have so much adrenaline on the court that sometimes I don’t need any more off the court. I also have 911 at home. When I want to mix it up, I jump into the 911.”
At that point in her answer, Swiatek laughed, knowing how ludicrous such riches sounded.
“Sorry, it sounds weird, but I’m pretty proud of how I played during these past years here in Stuttgart,” she quickly added. “It’s amazing we can have such a prize for winning. Pretty crazy.”
World No 1 Iga Swiatek is back on her favourite clay in Stuttgart
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Swiatek took advantage of the day off on Sunday to visit the Porsche Museum at Zuffenhausen, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary.
“It’s so exciting seeing all the cars and finding out something about their history,” she said. “I can’t only look at them, I can feel them too.”
Now in her 99th week at No 1, the 3-time Roland Garros champion looked at ease as she practised in the shadow of the lavender Porsche Taycan 4S Sport Turismo that awaits this year’s tournament champion.
Swiatek arrived in Stuttgart on Saturday after delivering Poland into the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Playing on indoor hard courts in Switzerland, Swiatek went 2-0 over the weekend to close out her spring hard-court season.
“I felt, today, that I can do the transition pretty quickly,” Swiatek said. “I’m not expecting that I’m going to feel comfortable from my first match, because you always need some matches to just gain confidence on any surface, even if you feel comfortable on it.”
She is an outstanding 63-9 on clay in her career, which is a winning 87.5% winning record, with the next best among active players going to Simona Halep at 72.9%.
Missing this week in Stuttgart is Jessica Pegula, who was supposed to start her European clay season here, but decided against it, after leading USA to the BJK Cup Finals in Orlando, Florida.
“The turn-around is just too tough,” Pegula said on Saturday. “I was thinking I could, maybe, go and play, but the flight situation wasn’t great getting there. I’d have to leave tonight. I just didn’t really feel like it was worth it. Plus it, kind of, extends my trip into Europe a week to 10 days earlier.
“I just wanted to get a really good, kind of, week at home on the clay, back to clay, to prep for Madrid, Rome and French.”
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