STUTTGART—Top seed Elena Rybakina beat Diana Shnaider in straight sets to qualify for the quarter-finals of the WTA clay-court event in Stuttgart as reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff also advanced.
The 26-year-old Rybakina, who was champion in the German tournament in 2024 but skipped last year’s event, relied on her service game as she won 6-2, 6-4 against the unseeded Russian in one hour and 12 minutes, AFP reported.
Shnaider, ranked 19th in the world, improved in the second set but was undone by double faults at crucial moments, allowing Kazakh Rybakina to capitalise.
Rybakina capped the match off with her ninth ace and will next take on Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, who beat Zeynep Sonmez in three sets late Thursday. Fernandez won 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).
World No 3 Gauff kicked off her bid for a first Stuttgart title with a straight sets win over Liudmila Samsonova.
The American second seed won 7-5, 6-1 to book a quarterfinal clash with Czech Karolina Muchova to be played on Friday.
Gauff said she modelled her clay court game on 14-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal, but said she was still trying to catch up to the Spanish legend.
“The greatest clay court player is Rafa. I don’t quite play like him but I try to hit my forehand like him,” Gauff said, adding: “I’m like the Walmart version of Rafa – I don’t want to be obliterated online.
Earlier, Muchova came from a set down to beat Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 to book a clash with Gauff.
World No 9 Mirra Andreeva pushed past American Alycia Parks in straight sets in their last 16 clash to extend her winning streak to six matches.
Sixth seed Andreeva is in fine form having won the clay event in Linz last week. She eliminated defending champion Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday and breezed past Parks 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
The Russian will take on two-time Stuttgart winner Iga Swiatek, who won her first clay court match of the season with a comprehensive victory over Laura Siegemund on Wednesday.
“Obviously she’s a great player, but I’ll just approach this match as every other match that I had before,” the 18-year-old Andreeva said of her quarterfinal opponent.
“She’s had a good history on clay so I’m just very curious to see how it’s going to go.”
Muchova’s compatriot Linda Noskova crushed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-1, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Elina Svitolina, who cruised past German Eva Lys 6-1, 6-0 on Wednesday.
