Iga Swiatek is Stuttgart’s new tennis queen. The 20-year-old world No. 1 was an easy 6-2, 6-2 winner against last year’s runner-up Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 45th Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. The victory has duly secured her a Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo.
Playing in front of a 4,400-capacity crowd in the Porsche Arena, the Pole, who was making her debut at the long-standing Stuttgart tournament, was dominant throughout. Despite the energy-sapping three-hour semifinal the day before, she was hitting powerfully and going for her shots right from the start against the world No. 4. With the match only 84 minutes old, she converted her third match point.
For Iga Swiatek, who had previously won the tournaments in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami, the triumph in Stuttgart was her fourth title in succession. The all-conquering player momentarily on the WTA Tour had extended her winning run to an impressive 23 matches. “I was so consistent, and I needed to be after the yesterday’s exhausting match. I was pretty tired which is why I had to stay focussed and try to expend as little energy as possible. It worked out well, also thanks to the magnificent atmosphere in the arena. I now know why all the players on the Tour say this tournament is one of the best,” said Iga Swiatek. “The title means so much to me because the week has shown me that I can also win tournaments even if my preparation isn’t quite perfect or if I don’t have too much time to get used to a new surface. If I concentrate on my game, then everything’s possible.”
Doubles final: Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs secure the title
After the singles victory ceremony, the doubles final was next on court for the spectators in the Porsche Arena. Desirae Krawczyk (USA) and Demi Schuurs (Netherlands) won 6-3, 6-4 against Coco Gauff (USA) and Shuai Zhang (China).
“We can be very pleased with the tournament week”
The crowd makes the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix what it is – something underlined by the Tournament Director at the traditional Closing Press Conference before the singles final. “For us organisers, it was a highly emotional moment when the gates opened and the first spectators entered the arena. Finally being able to experience the atmosphere on Centre Court was something very special for us and proved that we had done a few things right.” Anke Huber, the Operating Tournament Director, was also highly positive when reviewing the tournament saying, “We couldn’t have come up with a better field. For instance, we had five Top 10 players in the quarterfinals. And the tournament itself was extremely exciting all the way through. A total of 12 matches went to three sets, two even lasted longer than three hours. One can therefore see just how tight everything is at the moment in women’s tennis. For me, it was a fantastic tournament. I had immense fun watching the matches.”
Aces for Charity: 30,000 euro for a good cause
A success was not only the 45th Porsche Tennis Grand Prix but the Aces for Charity campaign. It has been a fixture at the long-standing Stuttgart for many years. For every ace struck, Porsche donates 100 euro to good causes. A total of 217 aces were struck up until the finals. Porsche rounded up the sum to 30,000 euro which was split up equally between the tournament’s charity partners, the “Stiftung Agapedia” foundation and the “Landessportverband Baden-Württemberg” regional sports organisation. The checks were handed over by Member of the Executive Board, Sales and Marketing, at Porsche AG. The money will go to projects for refugees from Ukraine. Aryna Sabalenka played a major role in generating the money for the donation – the runner-up sent down 25 aces.
Attractive supporting programme of events
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix has once again offered its visitors an attractive supporting programme of events with a colourful mixture of sport and entertainment. One of the highlights was the new Porsche World in which visitors could marvel at quite special Porsche vehicles and experience them multi-medially. There were also autograph sessions with the stars plus “have a go yourself” activities for young and old. The Porsche Mini Tennis Grand Prix saw U-9 juniors competing against each other in the Public Village on the finals weekend. Another sporting highlight alongside the tennis was the Final Four badminton tournament for the German championship on Court 1 on 22 and 23 April, won by the 1. BC Wippertal.
