The 41st edition of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will bring a touch of Grand Slam to the Stuttgart Arena from Monday. The illustrious field is led by industry leader Simona Halep from Romania. Eight players from the top ten will play in the Swabian metropolis – and 16 pros from the top 20 – and qualification, including Andrea Petkovic, will begin on Saturday.
In the local heroes Angelique Kerber, Julia Görges, Laura Siegemund and the Russian Maria Sharapova four former Stuttgart winners have registered for the indoor sand court event.
Other top ten stars include Australian Open finalist Halep Wimbledon winner Garbine Muguruza (Spain/No. 3), Elina Svitolina (Ukraine/No. 4), French Open winner Elena Ostapenko (Latvia/No. 5), Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic/No. 6), Caroline Garcia (France/No. 7), US Open Champion Sloane Stephens (USA/No. 9) and Petra Kvitova. The world ranking tenth from the Czech Republic will play with her team in the semi-final against hosts Germany in Stuttgart on Saturday and Sunday.
In addition, the top 20 players in the “PTGP 2018” include Kristina Mladenovic from France, who delivered a great fight in last year’s final, and the Americans Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys, the US open finalist from 2017, with only the top four seeded having a walk-through in the first round.
“It’s just another incredibly strong field. This means that the number eleven in the world will not be seeded with us. She may then be able to play the number eight very early. There is nowhere else, because the tournaments, which are comparable from the starter field – like the Grand Slams or Indian Wells for example – have much more laws. That’s why we are unique,” said tournament director Markus Günthardt recently in an interview with tennisnet.
In addition to two-time Grand Slam winners Kerber and Görges, defending champion Siegemund and Antonia Lottner from Porsche Talent Team Germany are also in the main draw as German players – both have received a wildcard. Carina Witthöft and Andrea Petkovic are fighting for one of the last four tickets for the “Main Draw”.
Thanks to a wild card, Katharina Gerlach, Katharina Hobgarski and Lena Rüffer from the Porsche Talent Team Germany and Julia Middendorf from the Porsche Junior Team can also compete with world-class players in the qualification and gain important experience.
As early as next Monday, an attractive premiere awaits the spectators: at the “Turkish Airlines Tiebreak”, a show event with a strong line-up, six top players will compete in a spectacular exchange of blows from 6.30 p.m. onwards: Kerber, Görges, Siegemund, Mladenovic, Garcia and Vandeweghe. According to the round-robin system of the WTA Finals in Singapore, each group plays against each other – but only one match tiebreak at a time. The first teams in the group will compete in the final of the tournament overture.
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, voted the most popular tournament on the WTA Tour by the professionals seven times in the past eight years, will be broadcast live from Monday (23 April) to Sunday (29 April) by the TV stations Eurosport and SWR and the streaming service DAZN.