Rybakina Powers Past Muchova To Win Second Stuttgart Title

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (photo: Porsche AG)

STUTTGART/WASHINGTON, April 19, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Elena Rybakina kept her eye on the grand prize all week during her fourth trip to the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, the heart of Germany’s automotive industry and headquarters of Porsche.

On Sunday afternoon, in front of a capacity crowd of 4,400 fans who filled Porsche Arena, the World No. 2 and top seed from Kazakhstan powered her way past World No. 12 and seventh seed Karolina Muchova of Czechia, 7-5, 6-1, in 78 minutes. By the time she left, Rybakina was seen driving off in her brand-new Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet, presented in Cartagena Yellow Metallic with a classic black soft top – with a big smile on her face.

Rybakina jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, with an immediate break of Muchova’s serve – the first of four service breaks during the title match. Although Muchova recovered to level the first set at 5-all, things only got better for Rybakina by the end of the afternoon. In the second set, she quickly blazed a trail to a 5-0 advantage, taking a double-break lead, and raced to the finish line with plenty of energy to spare.

The top-seeded, Russian-born Kazakh played with great clarity and determination through the championship final, hitting strongly from both wings while keeping Muchova off-foot and off-balance. Rybakina dropped just 11 points on her serve, winning 78 percent (38 of 49) of her service points. Four of her service games were won at love. Rybakina was equally strong on her returns, winning 48 percent (30 of 62) of points on Muchova’s service. She outpointed her opponent, 68-43.

By the completion of the 49th edition of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Rybakina had won her second Stuttgart title in three years. En route, she defeated No. 19 Diana Shnaider, No. 25 Leylah Fernandez, No. 9 Mirra Andreeva and Muchova. Although Rybakina finished strong, winning three of her matches in straight sets, she had to save two matches points against Fernandez in her three-hour quarterfinal victory over the Canadian lefty.

“I want to congratulate Karolina with a great week,” Rybakina said after receiving her second Porsche Tennis Grand Prix winner’s trophy. “I know it’s tough to lose in the finals. But I hope we play many more together. Congrats to your team with the great week.

“I want to say a big thanks to my team. Without you guys, it wouldn’t be possible. Thank you for always pushing me to do better and improve every day. Thank you so much.”

The Stuttgart title was Rybakina’s 13th career WTA Tour crown – and after beginning her career with 12 titles in 12 different tournaments, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix was her first repeat championship, after winning the 2024 Stuttgart prize. She has now won eight straight matches in Porsche Arena going back to the start of her 2024 championship run.

Despite the disappointment of losing the final to Rybakina, her second loss to her in four career meetings – and the first on clay – Muchova found positives and shared them during her post-final news conference. En route to Sunday’s final, she earned victories over No. 111 Aliaksandra Sasnovich, No. 20 Elise Mertens, No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 7 Elina Svitolina.

“Yeah, it was a really good week for me. I beat players I have never beaten before,” she said. “I had some tough battles. It was, for me, kind of like a first tournament on the clay, so kind of like a preparation.

“Of course, it could have been a little better if I’d [won] it today, but I have to give credit to Elena. I think she played really well, really fast. I was probably a little bit tired from the last two matches that I played here, but all credits to her.”

During her champion’s news conference, Rybakina added: “Yeah, really happy with the win, and it’s nice to win same tournament second time. First time for me winning the second tournament, so it’s really nice, special feeling, and of course the car, which is amazing. So, yeah, very happy.”

Melichar-Martinez and Samsonova win doubles title

Playing together for the first time this season, No. 4 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Liudmila Samsonova of Russia won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix doubles title over No. 1 seeds Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Zhang Shuai of China, 6-1, 6-1, in 51 minutes.

The American/Russia duo dropped just five points on their first serve, saved all five break points they faced and broke Ostapenko and Zhang five times in 11 attempts. They outpointed their opponents 49-30 en route to winning their third WTA Tour doubles title together.

Melichar-Martinez and Samsonova, who went 4-0 this week, compiled a 16-10 win-loss record as a team in 2025, including a title at Ningbo, China, and went 4-0 in 2024 while winning a title at Seoul.

Around the Porsche Arena

The “Aces for Charity,” part of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix’s commitment to social responsibility, wrapped up another successful campaign with a total of 272 aces served during the tournament, including 30 by Linda Noskova of Czechia.

This year, once again, Porsche is donating 100 euros for every ace served. Last year, a total of 199 aces were served on the way to the final. 

The “Aces for Charity” donation, which will be divided up equally between the “Stuttgart Kinderstiftung” and the Stiftung Agapedia” foundations, will go towards supporting projects in the Stuttgart Area.

By the numbers

Elena Rybakina has competed in 25 WTA Tour singles final. By winning Sunday’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title, her win-loss record in finals is 13-12.

“Quotable …”

“I think it gives you the most experience and the most that you can learn from. These are the best players, so definitely only to face them already gives you experience and a lot of things to learn about my own game, their game, and all that. So, I’m really happy to get these matches under the belt, even that one today. I will only try to take positives out of it.”

– Runner-up Karolina Muchova of Czechia, during her post-final news conference, describing playing three Top-10 players in consecutive matches in Stuttgart.

 

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