By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday April 18, 2024
Two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek edged past Elise Mertens for her ninth consecutive win in Stuttgart.
Photo Source: Getty
World No.1 Iga Swiatek is up and running in Stuttgart. The two-time defending champion remained undefeated at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, taking out Elise Mertens to reach the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-4.
Is the 22-year-old Pole setting her sights on taking home another Porsche prize in Stuttgart in 2024?
"There's always a space for Porsche, if not I'll make it, I'll build an underground garage," she said on court after her win.
In her first career meeting with 30th-ranked Mertens, Swiatek was pushed at times, but ultimately held sway over proceedings as she broke serve four times and improved to 64-9 lifetime on the clay (39-3 since the start of 2022), and a perfect 9-0 in Stuttgart.
This year’s Indian Wells and Doha champion is now 23-3 on the season – she will face either Emma Raducanu or Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Swiatek’s win leaves her on a collision course with Elena Rybakina, the last player to defeat her on clay. It was Rybakina that advanced when Swiatek retired at 2-all in the final set of the Rome quarterfinals last year. Rybakina and second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka (the runner-up in 2022 and 2023) are considered to be the players with the biggest chance of scoring success against Swiatek in Stuttgart.
The fourth-seeded Kazakh notched a 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-4 win over Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova to reach the last eight at Stuttgart for the first time.
Also moving through was rising Italian Jasmine Paolini, who toppled seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur for her fourth career Top 10 win, 7-6(8), 6-4.