On
Saturday, the semifinals of the WTA 500
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart
will take place, with 2-time champion
Iga Swiatek facing
Elena Rybakina for the
second time this season, while
Marketa Vondrousova will face
Marta KostyukSwiatek
and Rybakina are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the WTA Race and will play their
sixth encounter and second of the season. Rybakina leads the head-to-head 3-2,
but the last time they met was a victory for the Polish player in the final of
the Doha Open in February 2024 by 7-6(8), 6-2, where Swiatek secured her first
title of the season.
However,
they have only faced each other once on clay so far, a year ago in the
quarterfinals of the
Rome Open. In an exciting and evenly matched encounter,
the Polish player was forced to retire in the third set when the score was 6-2,
6-7(3), 2-2, allowing Rybakina to advance to the semifinals and subsequently
claim her second WTA 1000 title.
The
second match of the day will be led by former Wimbledon champion Marketa
Vondrousova, who is gradually improving her results and is coming off an
incredible victory over 3-time finalist
Aryna Sabalenka by 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. The
Czech player ended a streak of four consecutive losses against the Belarusian
and narrowed the head-to-head record to 3-4, as well as reaching the semifinals
of a tournament for the first time since her title at the 2023 Wimbledon.
Facing Vondrousova will be the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (No. 27), who had an epic victory against
Coco Gauff, winning 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. Kostyuk had previously surprised Chinese player Qinwen Zheng (No. 5) by saving several match points, and she continues to be in a great moment of her career. Kostyuk remains in the top 10 of the WTA race and secured her best WTA ranking by entering the top 25 for the first time in her career.
CENTRE COURT | |
Starting at 12:00 PM | |
Hao-Ching Chan TPE Veronika Kudermetova vs Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA Shuai Zhang CHN | |
Not before 2:00 PM | |
Iga Swiatek POL vs Elena Rybakina KAZ | |
Not before 4:00 PM | |
M. Kostyuk vs[6] Marketa Vondrousova CZE | |