Aryna Sabalenka, currently ranked second in the world, kicked off her clay court season in style with a straight-sets victory over Barbora Krejcikova on Wednesday at the Stuttgart tournament. This was the fourth meeting between the two players in 2023, with Sabalenka winning three of the matches. Despite losing to Krejcikova earlier in the season in Dubai, Sabalenka had gained revenge at Indian Wells and Miami. This was their first encounter on clay, and Sabalenka dominated the match, hitting ten aces and never facing a break point.
Sabalenka’s win secured her spot in the quarterfinals, making her the first player to reach that stage in the tournament. She had previously finished as a runner-up in Stuttgart twice, losing to Ashleigh Barty in 2021 and Iga Swiatek last year. So far this season, Sabalenka has won 21 matches, placing her behind only Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina, both of whom have won 22 matches each. Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion, also won her match on Wednesday against Jule Niemeier.
On Wednesday, Coco Gauff also began her clay court season with a hard-fought, three-set victory over Veronika Kudermetova. The American, who was the runner-up at the French Open last year, committed 53 unforced errors with 24 winners, while Kudermetova hit 80 unforced errors to 35 winners. In total, there were 15 breaks of serve. Gauff will face Anastasia Potapova in the last 16 after her win.
Gauff had been leading 3-0 and 4-2 in the second set before Kudermetova staged a comeback. Although the 19-year-old American served for the match at 5-3 in the decider, Kudermetova fought back before Gauff ultimately prevailed in the tiebreak.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will begin her title defense on Thursday against China’s Zheng Qinwen, who is currently ranked 25th in the world. Swiatek missed the Miami Open and Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers due to a rib injury but arrived in Germany without any injury concerns. “I’m not injured anymore, so that’s the most important thing for me,” said Swiatek, the reigning French and US Open champion