The 47th Porsche Tennis Grand Prix picked up speed on Monday when the main draw got underway. Right away in the first singles on Porsche Arena’s Centre Court, the spectators enjoyed a really tight match when the former world No. 2 Paula Badosa overcame the qualifier Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the round of the last 16 at the long-standing Stuttgart tournament. “Even though the result looks as if everything was clearcut, the match was a pretty hard battle,” said the Spaniard who is lacking match practice after a several month injury lay-off last year. “I’m so happy to be back in the Porsche Arena and hope I can improve with each match.”
Veronika Kudermetova, the world No. 19 then came out on top in a marathon encounter against Barbora Krejcikova. After a little over three hours, she converted her first match point to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. “I’ve got no idea how I turned everything around,” said the exhausted winner who was 4-1 down in the final set. “But I’m just so pleased that I’m into the next round here in Stuttgart.”
On Court 1, the day started with the first doubles encounter in which Anastasia Potapova and Vera Zvonareva defeated the American/Indonesian duo of Asia Muhammad and Aldila Sutjiadi 2-6, 6-3, 10-8. Afterwards, the American Sachia Vickery came through the match between two qualifiers when beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.
Attractive show event in the Porsche Arena
The first highlight on Monday was an entertaining show event on Centre Court. Current and former tennis greats were joined by professionals from partner clubs belonging to the Porsche “Turbo for Talents” initiative and duly produced some thrilling matches that drummed up a boisterous atmosphere in the Porsche Arena.
In the first semifinal, Ons Jabeur, the world No. 9 from Tunisia, and Fabian Bredlow, the VfB Stuttgart goalkeeper, faced the Romanian Sorana Cirstea and the ice-hockey player Jackson Cressey from Bietigheim Steelers. Ella Seidel from the Porsche Talent Team and Marc Stein from the Stuttgarter Kickers contested the second semifinal against the former world class player Andrea Petkovic and the basketball player Aeneas Jung from Ludwigsburg MHP Riesen. The tournament win was eventually secured by Petkovic and Jung after defeating Cirstea and Cressey in the final. In addition to bottles of Champagne, they also received the winner’s car, the Porsche Taycan 4S Sport Turismo – but only a model car.
Numerous highlights on Tuesday
With the main draw now in full flow, other top players will enter the tournament fray on Tuesday. The first match of the day on Centre Court at 12.30 pm will be an all-Italian affair as Jasmine Paolini will face Sara Errani. It will be followed by the first Top 10 player on court as the world No. 7 Qinwen Zheng from China will meet Sorana Cirstea. Marketa Vondrousova’s tournament will then begin, but not before 5 o’clock. The Czech, who last year sensationally triumphed in Wimbledon, will be up against Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
For Germany’s No. 1 Tatjana Maria, the tournament will start in earnest in the evening’s first match at 6.30 pm. The 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist, who was a key figure last weekend in Porsche Team Germany’s 3-1 Billie Jean King Cup win in Brazil, will take on the Belgian Elise Mertens in her opening contest. “I feel good. The long trip back is obviously still in my bones but I’ll try to prepare as best possible for the match,” said the Florida-based German at the Media Day on Monday. Her family is also with her in Stuttgart. In the last match of the day, another Top 10 player will appear on court as the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, will be up against the Czech Linda Noskova in her opening encounter.
Awaiting spectators on Court 1 are a series of spectacular doubles matches from 12.30 pm onwards. Starting off will be the title holders Desirae Krawczyk from USA and the Dutchwoman Demi Schuurs who will take on the Porsche Talent Team’s Nastasja Schunk and Ella Seidel. They will be followed – not before 1.30 pm – by Paula Badosa and Ons Jabeur against the Japanese-Ukrainian pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Nadiia Kichenok. Another highlight is the match in which local hero Laura Siegemund from Porsche Team Germany and her partner Barbora Krejcikova will play Fang-Hsien Wu from Taipei and Yifan Xu from China.
Ticket sales
Tickets for the 47th Porsche Tennis Grand Prix are available at the Porsche Arena box office and via the Easy Ticket Service – at www.easyticket.de or by calling +49 711 / 2 55 55 55.
