After only four games on Monday, the action really begins on Tuesday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with five first round ties taking place with Jelena Ostapenko, Marketa Vondrousova, Qinwen Zheng among others in action.
The schedule has been confirmed ahead of Day Two (Tuesday 16 April) with our preview looks ahead to the leading talking points and matches to watch as the indoor clay court staple continues.
The headline tie perhaps on Tuesday is for the reason of who they could yet face with Iga Swiatek lurking likely at some point, Jelena Ostapenko who has been the standout player at the start of the season will face off against Linda Noskova who dumped out Swiatek from the Australian Open. The winner will get Emma Raducanu or Angelique Kerber in the second round. Swiatek will face Elise Mertens or Tatjana Maria. The winner of this section of ties likely faces Swiatek in the third round.
Mertens v Maria takes place prior to this clash meaning that only the Raducanu v Kerber clash is needed to piece together the jigsaw that is this section of the draw. Also taking place on Tuesday to begin the day is Jasmine Paolini who could've faced Anna Kalinskaya once again. But the Russian lost to Italian veteran, Sara Errani. So the Italian's open the day with the winner facing Ekaterina Alexandrova or Ons Jabeur.
This is followed by fifth seed Qinwen Zheng who has not been in her best form since reaching the Australian Open final. She faces Sorana Cirstea with Marta Kostyuk or Laura Siegemund in the second round. Then to the bottom of the draw and Marketa Vondrousova who is sixth seed faces Donna Vekic. The victor faces Liudmila Samsonova or Anastasia Potapova. The seed in that section of note is Aryna Sabalenka. So from whatever angle you look at it, there are some big ties starting to form on Tuesday afternoon.
CENTRE COURT |
Starting at 12:30 PM |
Jasmine Paolini ITA vs [Q] Sara Errani ITA |
Followed by |
[5] Qinwen Zheng CHN vs Sorana Cirstea ROU |
Not before 5:00 PM |
[6] Marketa Vondrousova CZE vs Donna Vekic CRO |
Not before 6:30 PM |
[WC] Tatjana Maria GER vs Elise Mertens BEL |
Followed by |
Linda Noskova CZE vs [8] Jelena Ostapenko LAT |