The draw for the 2023 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart was released and it's full of high-profile clashes.
The WTA 500 event in Stuttgart runs from April 17th to 23rd and the tournament is one of the most popular of its category on the WTA Tour. This year, the winner won't be rewarded just with prize money and points but also a brand new Porsche Taycan Turbo S Sport Turismo and so there is a lot to fight for in Stuttgart.
Last year, Iga Swiatek lifted the trophy and the Pole is back to defend her title in 2023. The first-seeded Swiatek has a bye in the first round as all top four seeds, and in the second round, she will play against Qinwen Zheng or a qualifier.
One of the most interesting first-round matches is between the eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari and former world no. 1 Karolina Pliskova, with the winner taking on Ekaterina Alexandrova or Donna Vekic.
Ons Jabeur is also back to competition and as the third seed, she can prepare for her second-round match which will be a difficult one. The Tunisian is a two-time Grand Slam finalist but she never got past that mark while both Jelena Ostapenko and Emma Raducanu are major winners and one of them will await Jabeur in the second round.
Martina Trevisan and Beatriz Haddad Maia had different fortunes during the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers which took place over the past week. While the Brazilian will want to forget the loss to Germany, Trevisan will want to follow up on a victory against Slovakia also in Stuttgart.
Another successful player at the Billie Jean King Cup was Elena Rybakina. The Kazakh recently expressed her desire to win more majors, but she certainly won't mind adding a WTA 500 trophy to her cabinet. In the first round, she will play against home player Jule Niemeier.
The second part of the draw is also very interesting. Coco Gauff, who was also part of the Billie Jean King Cup success, will kick off the tournament against Veronika Kudermetova. But a much more interesting much follows, but not because of tennis reasons.
Petra Kvitova recently shared her views on Russian players and she was then accused of 'Russophobia' by former Russian player Svetlana Kuznetsova. Now, she's set to take on no other than Anastasia Potapova from Russia, who recently sparked controversy, wearing a Spartak Moscow jersey in Indian Wells.
The fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia will await 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist and home player Tatjana Maria or a qualifier in the second round. Another interesting first-round matchup will see the seventh-seeded Daria Kasatkina taking on Paula Badosa with the winner meeting one of the qualifiers.
The second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka will start her journey against one of the very dangerous players as Liudmila Samsonova and the 2021 Roland Garros champion, Barbora Krejcikova, will clash in the first round.
2023 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart WTA Draw:
| 1. Iga Swiatek (1) |
| 2. BYE |
| 3. Qinwen Zheng |
| 4. Qualifier |
| 5. Ekaterina Alexandrova |
| 6. Donna Vekic |
| 7. Karolina Pliskova |
| 8. Maria Sakkari (8) |
| 9. Ons Jabeur (3) |
| 10. BYE |
| 11. Jelena Ostapenko |
| 12. Emma Raducanu |
| 13. Martina Trevisan |
| 14. Beatriz Haddad Maia |
| 15. Jule Niemeier |
| 16. Elena Rybakina (6) |
| 17. Coco Gauff (5) |
| 18. Veronika Kudermetova |
| 19. Petra Kvitova |
| 20. Anastasia Potapova |
| 21. Tatjana Maria |
| 22. Qualifier |
| 23. BYE |
| 24. Caroline Garcia (4) |
| 25. Daria Kasatkina (7) |
| 26. Paula Badosa |
| 27. Qualifier |
| 28. Qualifier |
| 29. Barbora Krejcikova |
| 30. Liudmila Samsonova |
| 31. BYE |
| 32. Aryna Sabalenka (2) |
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