Tennis fans are looking forward to the arrival of Stuttgart’s Angelique Kerber

It was not Tatjana Maria’s day. Despite strong play and a strong comeback, the player from the German Porsche Team had to accept defeat by Belgian Elise Mertens 1:6, 6:4, 0:6 in the second set.

“I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t win the match, but I’m happy with how I came back in the second set,” said the Wimbledon 2022 semi-finalist after the match. “In the third set he played very aggressively and I ran out of energy a little bit. That definitely contributed to that.” Maria, who had returned home from the Billie Jean King Cup in Brazil with Porsche Team two days ago, was more tired towards the end of the match, which led to the odd mistake. I gave my best until the end,” said Maria, who still enjoyed playing in front of her home crowd: “There is nothing better.”

Already at lunch, the Italian Jasmine Paolini defeated her colleague Sara Errani in an impressive way 6:1, 6:0 and qualified for the round of 16. World number seven Qinwen Zheng, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open earlier in the year, also played well. With a strong initial game, she did not give her opponent Sorana Cirstea from Romania a chance and won confidently 6:2, 6:3. “The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix has been one of my favorite tournaments since I was a kid, so I’m very happy to be able to continue here,” explained 21-year-old Zheng in the winner’s on-court interview. “I think I served really well and moved well. Let’s see what the week brings.”

Shortly after, the audience witnessed another favorite victory when the Czech Marketa Vondrousova won the match against Donna Vekic from Croatia 6:4, 6:3. Last year’s Wimbledon winner finished the match in style with two aces. “The first match on clay is always a challenge. “I didn’t know what to expect, but overall I’m very happy with my performance,” summed up the world number 8.

Czech Linda Noskova had a surprise in the final game of the day. At the age of 19, the youngest participant in the tournament clearly won against world number 10 Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia 6:3, 6:1.

Two young Germans celebrate a great victory

Two players from the Porsche Talent Team created a sensation: Ella Seidel and Nastasja Schunk comfortably beat defending champions Desirae Krawczyk from the USA and Demi Schuurs from the Netherlands in the doubles competition. In a hard-fought battle, the young German players settled down in the race for the rematch and won 6:4, 4:6, 10:8. With this success, Seidel and Schunk, who had received a wild card for the tournament, got their first place in the quarter-finals of the WTA tournament. Local hero Laura Siegemund and her new doubles partner Barbora Krejcikova are also among the last eight pairs. After a difficult start, the German-Czech duo defeated Fang-Hsien Wu from Taipei and Yifan Xu from China 3:6, 6:4, 10:7.

Other top stars will enter the tournament on Wednesday

Wednesday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is ​​about the best players. In the first match of the day at 12.30pm at the Court Centre, spectators can look forward to Ons Jabeur from Tunisia, ranked ninth in the world rankings. Last year’s semi-finalist at the Porsche Arena meets Ekaterina Alexandrova. Soon after, Laura Siegemund competes in her first singles. The 2017 Stuttgart winner will face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, world number 27. “This is not an easy first round for me,” said the native of Filderstadt about his opponent, whom he had never faced before. “He played really well last year, so I have to prepare hard.”

Coco Gauff, one of the top favorites for this title, will not enter the Central Court until 5:00 p.m. In the first round of 16 of the week, the current US Open winner from the USA, who had a bye in the first round, will face her compatriot Sachia Vickery. “I’m very happy to be back here in Stuttgart,” said the 20-year-old at Media Day on Tuesday. “I have trained well and I hope to have a successful week here.” Another highlight of the day awaits tennis fans around 6.30 pm when the two Porsche brand ambassadors Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu. Three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber, who only returned to the tour in January after her maternity leave, is looking forward to her comeback in front of the German crowd. “It’s good to be back in Stuttgart,” explained the winner of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2015 and 2016 “Playing in front of the home crowd has always given me extra motivation.”

At the end of the day there is a showdown between two great friends: World number two Aryna Sabalenka, who defended her title at the Australian Open in January, meets Spaniard Paula Badosa. The two already faced each other in Stuttgart last year, when Sabalenka was seeded in the quarterfinals.

Ticket sales

Tickets for the 47th Porsche Tennis Grand Prix are available at the Porsche Arena box office and from Easy Ticket Service – online at www.easyticket.de or by phone at 0711 / 2 55 55 55.