Stuttgart Open: Iga Swiatek beats Elise Mertens in straight sets, to face Emma Raducanu in quarter-finals

Stuttgart: Top-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals on Thursday. The top-ranked Swiatek will face next Emma Raducanu, who knocked out Linda Noskova 6-0, 7-5. Earlier, fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina battled her way into the quarterfinals in a roller coaster 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4 victory over Veronika Kudermetova.

Rybakina managed to stave off three break points toward the end of the opening set and then took control of the tiebreaker. But her errors mounted in the second set as Kudermetova began to dominate.

Perfect start 🤩@iga_swiatek stays unbeaten in Stuttgart, getting past Mertens in her opening match of the week!#PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/aLGIFbxbuE

— wta (@WTA) April 18, 2024

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Rybakina regained control in the decider and surged to 4-1 before 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 also reached 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.