A capacity 4,200 crown in Stuttgart’s Porsche Arena witnessed absorbing semifinal duels featuring high-class tennis, spectacular rallies and big emotions on Sunday. The day’s play came to an end with an exciting doubles final in which Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) and Erin Routliffe (New Zealand) secured the title.
In the first semifinal, Jelena Ostapenko overcame Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-4 to get to the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the first time in her career. The Latvian impressed throughout with her attacking tennis and strong nerves in the crunch moments. She duly converted her first match point after one hour 29 minutes. ‟It was a fantastic game. I’m very satisfied with my performance,” said the world No. 24. ‟Winning the first set always give you a lot of confidence.” After reaching the last stage of the WTA 1000 tournament in Doha, tomorrow’s final will be the second of the season for the 2017 French Open champion. ‟I’m playing great tennis at the moment,” she said confidently, ‟and I know I can beat everyone on clay.”
Aryna Sabalenka followed up by defeating the world No. 6 Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4 to reach her fourth final of the long-standing Stuttgart tournament in five years. The 26-year-old had to dig deep against the in-form Italian but kept her cool when it mattered. ‟I had to fight for every point, it’s always tough against Jasmine,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion. ‟In the end, only a few points made the difference.” As for the final against Jelena Ostapenko, she has a clear goal: ‟I hope the fourth final will finally land me the title.” Sabalenka also has the winner’s car firmly in her sights: ‟I’ll be fighting harder than ever before.”
In the doubles final at the end of a fantastic day of tennis in the Porsche Arena, the top-seeded duo of Gabriela Dabrowski from Canada and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe claimed the title by beating Ekaterina Alexandrova and her partner Shuai Zhang from China 6-3, 6-3. It was the first time they had paired up on clay.
Sunday’s results
Centre Court
Semifinals, singles,
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) vs Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-4
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs [5] Jasmine Paolini (ITA) 7-5, 6-4
Final, doubles
[1] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/Erin Routliffe (NZL) vs Ekaterina Alexandrova/Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-3, 6-3
Monday’s Order of Play
Centre Court
Starting at 12:15 pm
Performance by the Stuttgart Ballet
Final, singles
Starting at 1.00 pm
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)
Porsche in Tennis
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is the flagship of Porsche’s worldwide involvement in women’s tennis. First played in Filderstadt in 1978, the long-standing Stuttgart tournament has been held in the city’s Porsche Arena since 2006. It stands for tradition and innovation, as does the Porsche brand. As the most loyal sponsor of women’s international tennis, Porsche has accompanied the WTA’s oldest indoor event right from the start. Porsche has also been supporting women’s tennis internationally for years. Iga Swiatek, Eva Lys and Maria Sakkari are ‟Friends of the Brand” in their home countries. Porsche has been a premium partner of the ‟Deutsche Tennis Bund” (DTB – German Tennis Association) since 2012 and is committed to fostering up-and-coming players in the Porsche Talent Team and the Porsche Junior Team.
