The victory proved to be a personal landmark for the American who has not lost the opening match of a tour level competition in the last 12 months.
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American tennis player and fifth seed Coco Gauff punched her ticket to the last 16 of the 2023 edition of the WTA Stuttgart Open on Wednesday after recording a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Veronika Kudermetova. Gauff smashed five aces and converted eight out of 10 break points to claim the victory. The victory proved to be a personal landmark for the American who has not lost the opening match of a tour level competition in the last 12 months.
The match was not a simple affair for the fifth seed who dropped the second set and was pushed to the limit in the third. “That was a close one,” said Gauff. “I had opportunities in that match. I mean, again, I’m not expecting an easy match. She’s been playing better and better each week. I think that I’m just going to have to keep that aggressive mindset, especially against her, someone who can come up with some big shots.”
The teenager entered Stuttgart with a number of disadvantages. She was competing in the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers on hard courts back in Florida less than a week ago. She is currently without a coach after divorcing Diego Moyano following Miami. Additionally, she had lost 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in their sole prior meeting in the quarterfinals of the Doha tournament in February.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Ryabkina stormed into the round of 16 of the 2023 Stuttgart Open on Wednesday after bagging a comfortable 7-5, 6-3 in over German Jule Niemeier. Rybakina smashed an impressive nine aces and returned three out of five break points to win the match. She also recorded 77% and 44% on the first and second serves respectively and will face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the next round of the competition.
World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka defeated Barbora Krejcikova, who was ranked No. 12, 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday night to become the first player at this year’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix to advance to the quarterfinals. Sabalenka, the current Australian Open champion, has made it to the finals the past two seasons but is still looking for her first Stuttgart victory. In 2021 and 2022, Sabalenka came in second place to Ashleigh Barty and Iga Swiatek, respectively.
“I’m super happy with this win, it’s always a tough match against Barbora,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “I think [my] serve was really working well today. On the return I put a lot of pressure on her so she didn’t have that much time.”
Karolina Pliskova defeated Maria Sakkari in the opening match of the day’s Stuttgart Open fixtures, winning 6-2, 6-3. It wasn’t really as close as it should have been between two excellent players. Karolina Pliskova easily prevailed thanks to her devastating serve, which was especially effective given the indoor setting. Sakkari also provided good service, but she struggled much more to take the lead in rallies.
