Tough draw for Eva Lys as Germany’s best player – currently the world No. 68 – will face Jasmine Paolini in her opening match at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. The Italian is one of the most consistent players on the Tour and established herself as one of the world’s best in 2024 when reaching the final at the French Open and Wimbledon as well as winning the title at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai. In the desert city this year, the current world No. 6 defeated Eva Lys 6-2, 7-5 in February.
‟Jasmine is in the Top 10 for a good reason. She’s incredibly consistent and plays amazingly intensively on clay. But I took a lot away from our first match and am looking forward to the challenge,” said Eva Lys ahead of her second main draw appearance in Stuttgart. ‟For me, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is one of the nicest tournaments on the Tour. The conditions in the arena are ideal, the standard is extremely high and, as a German, it means a lot to me.”
A tennis highlight in the first-round promises to be the meeting between the only 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and last year’s runner-up Marta Kostyuk. Andreeva is the world No. 7 and caused a sensation in the last few weeks when winning the WTA 1000 events in Dubai and Indian Wells. Her opponent is well-known in Stuttgart as she battled her way to the 2024 final after winning several three-setters.
Laura Siegemund will play Jule Niemeier in an all-German first-round match. The 2017 Stuttgart winner was in action on Sunday when drawing the main draw matches and drew herself against Jule Niemeier. ‟The nice thing is that a German will definitely be in the next round,” said Siegemund. ‟Playing Jule is not going to be easy. We’ve not played each other that often.” The second all-German affair was also made known on Sunday evening. As the American Danielle Collins was forced to pull out of the tournament, Ella Seidel has progressed to the main draw as a lucky loser and will now meet Tatjana Maria, the 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist. Despite playing some excellent tennis, the 20-year-old from the Porsche Talent Team earlier went down 6-3, 6-4 in the qualification final against the top-seeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska.
Favourites come through the qualifying finals
The other favourites also advanced in the remaining qualifying finals. Aliaksandra Sasnovich was a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 victor against Erika Andreeva and Veronika Kudermetova gave the Italian Sara Errani no chance when winning 6-1, 6-2. The day’s longest match ended after three hours 39 minutes when the Croatian Jana Fett overcame Rebeka Masarova from Switzerland 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
Exciting show event starts the main draw – Porsche Tennis meets VfB Stuttgart
An entertaining show tournament under the motto ‟Kick & Serve- VfB Stuttgart meets Porsche Tennis” will be the highlight on the first day of main draw matches on Centre Court – play will start on Monday at 5.30 pm. Current and former top athletes from tennis and football will oppose each other in mixed doubles teams. In action from the Porsche partner club VfB Stuttgart will be three former top players – Cacau, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Fernando Meira. At their sides will be the tennis players Andrea Petkovic, Eva Lys and Laura Siegemund.
Porsche in Tennis
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is the flagship of Porsche’s worldwide involvement in women’s tennis. First played in Filderstadt in 1978, the long-standing Stuttgart tournament has been held in the city’s Porsche Arena since 2006. It stands for tradition and innovation, as does the Porsche brand. As the most loyal sponsor of women’s international tennis, Porsche has accompanied the WTA’s oldest indoor event right from the start. Furthermore, Porsche has been supporting women’s tennis internationally for years. Iga Swiatek and Maria Sakkari are ‟Friends of the Brand” in their home countries. Porsche has been a premium partner of the ‟Deutsche Tennis Bund” (DTB – German Tennis Association) since 2012 and is committed to fostering up-and-coming players in the Porsche Talent Team and the Porsche Junior Team.
Sunday's results
Qualifying finals
[5] A. Sasnovich vs [3] E. Andreeva 6-1, 6-4
[1] D. Yastremska (UKR) vs [6] E. Seidel (GER) 6-3, 6-4
[2] V. Kudermetova vs [8] S. Errani (ITA) 6-1, 6-2
J. Fett (CRO) vs R. Masarova (SUI) 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 7-6(5)
Monday's Order of Play
Centre Court
From 6.30 pm
Anastasia Potapova vs Clara Tauson (DEN)
Followed by
[Q] Veronika Kudermetova vs [8] Diana Shnaider
Court 1
From 2.00 pm
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)/Dayana Yastremska (UKR) vs Nastasja Schunk (GER)/Ella Seidel (GER)
Not before 4.00 pm
[Q] Aliaksandra Sasnovich vs. Elise Mertens (BEL)
