Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Petra Kvitova lead the field in Stuttgart, the first WTA 500 stop of the European clay swing — the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, scheduled to be played at the Tennis Club Weissenhof between April 17-23.
The three most recent title winners, however, are set to face stiff competition from a packed field. Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur and Caroline Garcia round out the top 4 seeds alongside Swiatek. Add the likes of Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu, Barbora Krejcikova, Jelena Ostapenko and other former winners, and tennis fans can expect top-drawer tennis.
With main-draw action set to begin at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Monday, here is a look at the prospects of the top names in the fray:
Iga Swiatek is, in all likelihood, set to open her title defense against the talented Qinwen Zheng in the second round. Back on her beloved clay, the Pole — who has not played since losing to Elena Rybakina in the Indian Wells semifinal — will be keen to bring out her best tennis.
Swiatek will certainly need that, as she could run into either fellow clay court aficionado Maria Sakkari or former winner Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals, with 2023 nemesis Rybakina looming next.
That said, Rybakina has a few tricky turns to manouevre of her own first. The Kazakh will take on the big-hitting Jule Niemeier in her opener. If she were to come through that test, the Kazakh could face Beatriz Haddad Maia, who beat her earlier in the year, or two-time Roland Garros semifinalist Martina Trevisan.
