Carina Witthöft was the third German to drop out in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The 23-year-old from Hamburg, when Lucky Loser slipped into the main draw, lost to Kazakh Zarina Diyas 3:6, 2:6.
A month ago, Witthöft failed in the third round of the tournament in Miami because of the same opponent. On Tuesday Antonia Lottner (Düsseldorf) had already lost their first-round matches against 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) and surprisingly the German number one Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe) against Czech qualifier Marketa Vondrousova.
Last year’s winner Laura Siegemund (Metzingen) reached the round of 16 by beating Czech Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-3. Angelique Kerber (Kiel) is the last of the five German participants to intervene in the sand court tournament, which is endowed with 816,000 dollars, on Wednesday evening from 6.30 pm (live at DAZN). The 30-year-old will face two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic/No. 8), against whom she lost 2:6, 2:6 in the Fed Cup match (1:4) on Sunday.
The winner of the 41st edition of the event, which has been voted the best tournament on the tour nine times in the past ten years, will receive prize money of 140,193 dollars and a sports car from the main sponsor. Favourites in the top-class field include the world number one Simona Halep (Romania) and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza (Spain).