Defending champion:
Karolina Pliskova (5) who defeated wildcard CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6(2) 6-4
First round
- Elise Mertens v Daria Kasatkina
If this tournament had been played at the start of the year, both players would have been seeded, as their rankings were Mertens #12 and Kasatkina #10. Kasatkina has had a woeful few months of tennis, winning only two matches, and losing the first match she played in five of the seven tournaments contested.
Mertens had a patchy start, 4-3 win / loss, and two further losses in Fed Cup clash tie against France, before a break through success in the Premier Mandatory event in Doha. There, she recorded wins over top ten players Bertens, Kerber, and Simona Halep in the final.
Since then, two wins and four losses in the four tournaments played.
Hence the rankings enjoyed coming into Stuttgart are #18 Mertens and #22 Kasatkina.
The pair were 1-1 head to head before this match. Kasatkina the winner in Daytona Beach 2015, Mertens successful in New Haven 2017.
Today Mertens won the toss and chose to receive.
Kasatkina opened proceedings with a love game, a stunning drop shot, backed up with strong serving. Mertens levelled, a backhand cross court winner a highlight, a backhand volley mess and netted backhand not so elegant. However, excellent serving counteracted those mistakes.
Kasatkina lost just a single point, a double fault, to lead 2-1, sealed with a delightful off forehand winner, but Mertens was the first to land in trouble. At 1-2, she had a 40-15 lead, following impressive work with her backhand, including one winner down the line, Mertens lost rhree successive points. The first two were failed backhands, the third a forehand error. The break point saviour was an ace, and Mertens went on to hold serve.
Kasatkina saved a break point in the seventh game, and the pair exchanged service breaks in the next two games to see the Russian ahead 5-4, after failing to serve the set out.
Serving to stay in the set, Mertens let slip a 30-15 advantage to face set point. A double fault and wide backhand put her in danger. Kasatkina wasted her chance when a forehand drifted out of court. 5-5 eventuated, as did the the tie break.
The tie break was fascinating. Mertens jumped to a 4-1 lead, with two points taken of the Kasatkina serve, a forehand error and a double fault. (her sixth so far) One was retrieved thanks to a forehand winner. However, Mertens, at 5-2, still had a mini break. At 5-4, with two serves to come, the set was on the Belgian racquet. A double fault was ill timed and scores were 5-5. Nevertheless, a strong first serve produced a Russian error and set point arrived for Mertens, but on the Kasatkina serve.
Points continued to go with serve until Kasatkina led 9-8, and two more set points had disappeared, one each. Now we had another set point, this one for Kasatkina, on the Mertens serve. A netted backhand from Mertens gave the set to Kasatkina 7-6(8).
After three service holds in set two, Kasatkina led 40-15, but lost serve on the second of two break points to trail 1-3. It could have been 1-5, but four break points were saved in game six.
Clearly Mertens was unhappy with her inability to capitalise on her multiple chances, and it showed when she dropped serve the very next game. At 3-4, Kasatkina was back in contention for the set, but let herself down by handing the break straight back to Mertens, and the Belgian was only a game away from leveling the match.
Kasatkina steadied, and won an extraordinary 16 of the last 22 points of the match, including two breaks of serve, to reign victorious 7-6(8) 7-5.
- Anastasija Sevastova (7) defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 4-6 6-0
- Wildcard Laura Siegemund defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-2 6-2
- Qualifier Greet Minnen defeated wildcard Dominika Cibulková 7-5 6-3
- Kiki Bertens (6) defeated qualifier Anna-Lena Friedsam 7-5 6-2
- Wildcard Andrea Petkovic defeated qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3 6-4
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