Stuttgart draw: Iga Swiatek heads all-star field for Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

James Richardson 16 Apr 2023 10:49 PM

Iga Swiatek

Defending champion and world No 1 Iga Swiatek heads the field for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

Swiatek enjoys a bye into the second round of the tournament but still faces a potentially tricky opening match.

The WTA Rankings queen will face either up and coming American talent Alycia Parks or the ever-improving Zheng Qinwen in her opening match.

‟We’re delighted to be able to present our crowd with a superstar like Iga,” said tournament director Markus Günthardt said.

“She was 2022’s outstanding player and deservedly tops the world rankings. As the defending champion, she’s definitely one of the big favourites, especially after showing at the Qatar Open in Doha that she is back in top form after getting off to a slow start to the season.”

If Swiatek can secure passage into the last eight, potential quarter-final opponents include No 8 seed Maria Sakkari or 2018 champion Karolina Pliskova.

Meanwhile 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu will face 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko to determine the first opponent for No 3 seed Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur has a path to the last four that is littered with potential meetings with former Grand Slam champions as she could also meet sixth seed and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals.

Rybakina faces German No 1 Jule Niemeier to kick off her Stuttgart campaign in the first round.

The inarguable headliner of the third quarter is fourth seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who will take on either German No 2 Tatjana Maria or Swiss qualifier Ylena In-Albon after a first-round bye.

Fifth seed Coco Gauff is also in the quarter that houses Garcia and she will face one of the highest-ranked unseeded players in her Stuttgart opener in the form of world No 13 Veronika Kudermetova.

Kudermetova owns a victory over Gauff from their only previous meeting, which came in Doha earlier this season.

Petra Kvitova was originally down to join the star-studded section, however her late withdrawal from the tournament due to a right foot injury means that only eight of the world’s top ten players will turn out at the indoor clay event.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who has come agonizingly close to winning the title in Stuttgart as the tournament’s runner-up for the last two years, and she anchors the bottom quarter.

Sabalenka is also guaranteed to face a Top 15 player after her first round by.

The world No 2 will take on the winner of the first-round match between Barbora Krejcikova and Liudmila Samsonova.

At the other side of that bottom quarter is an opening-round showdown between seventh seed Daria Kasatkina and Spain’s Paula Badosa.

Kasatkina currently sports a 2-1 lead over Badosa in their career head-to-head, with all three of their contested meetings coming in 2022.