Badosa Wins Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Opener

Paula Badosa, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Paula Badosa (photo: Porsche AG)

STUTTGART/WASHINGTON, April 16, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

The look on Paula Badosa‘s face after defeating qualifier Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany on Monday evening was one of relief.

The 26-year-old, New York-born Spaniard from Barcelona, who reached a career-high of No. 2 in 2022, suffered a stress fracture in her back and was sidelined for much of the second half of the 2023 season. Now, ranked No. 93, Badosa has slowly regained her health. Her well-earned win against the No. 62 Shnaider in just her 13th match this season, spread over eight tournaments, suggests she’s ready to make her climb back up the rankings.

Mind you, Badosa would like to improve her service game and cut down on her hitting errors. Against the bandana-wearing lefty Shnaider, she committed 10 double faults and only placed 51 percent of her first serves in play. However, to her credit, she saved all eight break points she faced, converted two of four break point opportunities against the 20-year-old Russian, and finally closed out the victory on her fifth match point. Badosa outpointed her opponent 76-68.

“It was a tough one; I need matches,” Badosa admitted in her on-court interview. “I need my confidence back. Sometimes, I get nervous. It was tough and she played well, but I’m happy I got the win.”

Badosa said her lack of match play made it tough to play the big points against Shnaider well.

“For sure, I know it’s lack of confidence, a lack of matches,” she said. “I’m really happy how I fought mentally today, especially in the service games. It was really tough. I’m really proud of myself.”

Badosa said it’s been challenging adapting to the physical aspects of the game as she tries to recapture her former self after her injury sabbatical from the Tour. “In my case, it’s been my body, the physical part; moving, reading the game. I think I lost that a little bit. Sometimes, I make unforced errors I’m not used to making. That’s the thing I think I lost the most. As I play more matches, I think it will get better.”

Next, Badosa will face her close friend, World No. 2 and second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. It was Sabalenka who eliminated Badosa in the Stuttgart semifinals two years ago.

Opening Night in Stuttgart concluded with a tight and lengthy — three hours, six minutes — match between 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, who is currently ranked 24th, and No. 19 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia that went the distance.

By the end, only a point separated the two combatants — 109-108 in favor of the Russian — and it was Kudermetova who won the last five games of the decisive set to walk away with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Krejcikova. It was only her second main draw win in Stuttgart but it advanced her to face fourth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the second round.

Kudermetova, who improved her win-loss record to 7-9, finished with 28 winners to 47 unforced errors compared to 27 winners and 50 unforced errors by Krejcikova. She converted five of eight break points and saved nine of the 13 break points she faced.

“I don’t know. I just tried to fight and believe in myself,” Kudermetova said in her on-court interview when asked how she managed to turn a sure loss into a victory. It’s the first time this season that she’s come back to win after losing the opening set. “I’m just really glad I managed to win this tough match. I’m so happy.”

Meanwhile in their first career meeting, 134th-ranked Sachia Vickery of the United States fought past No. 74 Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 7-6 (2), 7-5, in an hour and 53 minutes on Court 1 in an afternoon match-up of qualifiers. Vickery advances to a second-round meeting against No. 3 seed Coco Gauff of the United States.

Vickery outpointed Sasnovich 86-75, which included converting six of 13 break points. She closed out the win on her first match point after Sasnovich netted a fourth-shot forehand return.

It was Vickery’s second main-draw win on Tour in 2024 and she’s 15-8 in all competitions this season. Sasnovich dropped to 1-4 in tour-level play and is 7-10 in all competitions.

Potapova and Zvonareva advance in doubles draw

In the opening match of the 16-team doubles draw, it took a match tie-break to decide the winner. When it ended, unseeded Russians Anastasia Potapova and Vera Zvonareva had upset No. 4 seeds Asia Muhammad of the United States and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia, 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, in an hour and 22 minutes to advance to the quarterfinal round.

Points were even at 59 each, but the winners scored four of the last five points of the match tie-break and put away the victory on their second match-point opportunity. Potapova and Zonareva leveled their 2024 win-loss record at 2-2 in their third tournament together this season.

Around the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

Iga Swiatek has made the most of her time in Stuttgart, both on the practice court …

… and visiting the Porsche Museum on her day off Sunday.

Swiatek also squeezed in a pretournament news conference on Monday. She said of her return to playing on clay and going after a title three-peat in Stuttgart: “Really excited, especially because that’s my first days on clay. I’m happy to be back on this surface.

“Obviously I really like it and I missed it. It’s nice to be back.

“Also I love this tournament. I have really great memories. Hopefully I’m going to create some more memories this year.”

And what has Swiatek done with the Porsche sports car she won from winning the 2023 tournament? “Well, I’ve been using it. So, yeah, it’s fun. I use it on a daily basis at home. I feel like actually it’s one of the reasons I really like to come back home, because I can drive my own car. We don’t have many opportunities on tour to do that. We have here, but on other tournaments it’s not so easy.

“I’m working on my driving skills. Really not using the full potential of the Porsche car because I would probably have too many tickets (smiling). Just driving around and having, like, a huge pleasure of it, yeah.”

By the numbers

• The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in tournament was staged at Stuttgart from 1978-1984 and relocated to Filderstadt from 1985-2005 before returning to Stuttgart in 2006. Since 2009, the tournament has been played on clay-courts.

• Two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek has lost only three matches on clay in the last three years, posting a 37-3 win-loss record during that stretch. The next most wins at WTA Tour-level events on clay are Ons Jabeur (28-8) and Daria Kasatkina (28-12). Swiatek is bidding to become the first three-peat champion in Stuttgart since Maria Sharapova (2012-14).

“Quotable …”

Highlights from Monday’s Media Day

Monday’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix results

Tuesday’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix order of play 

 

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