Staff Reporter.
Iga Swiatek made a winning start to her 2024 clay-court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, defeating Elise Mertens, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals in her title defense.
The world No. 1 made an impeccable turnaround from playing on hard courts for Billie Jean King Cup to slide through an at-times tense encounter to knock out her unseeded opposition in about an hour and half on Stuttgart’s Center Court.
Making the transition onto her beloved clay courts proved straightforward from the onset against Mertens, a former world No. 12 who has tended to play her best tennis on faster surfaces.
Swiatek surged to a 5-1 lead to kick off her first meeting with the Belgian, and withstood a mid-set hiccup to dig out of a 0-30 deficit and serve out the set on her second opportunity.
The second set saw a similar momentum shift when Swiatek shook off losing an early break to reclaim the initiative at three games apiece. Mertens kept pressing, but Swiatek was undeterred, consolidating the break with some strong serving to put herself a game from the last eight.
Though Mertens saved three match points with a mix of defense and deep hitting, Swiatek cracked a powerful backhand to engineer a fourth and clinched the victory with a final forehand winner.
Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina battled her way into the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals in a roller coaster 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4 victory over Veronika Kudermetova on Thursday.
Rybakina managed to stave off three break points towards the end of the opening set and then took control of the tiebreak. But her errors mounted in the second set as Kudermetova began to dominate.
Rybakina regained control in the decider and surged to 4-1 but more errors allowed Kudermetova to level. But the Kazakh player rallied again to take a tight service hold and close out the match.
She will face Jasmine Paolini after the Italian upset seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Markéta Vondroušová was also through to the quarterfinals after seeing off Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-1. The Wimbledon champion has lined up second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka.
Eight of the top 10 ranked women are at the tournament, the main event in the first week of clay tournaments on the WTA Tour.