Dates, draws, prize money and everything you need to know

The Hologic WTA Tour heads back to Europe, where the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, this year’s first WTA 500 event on red clay, will take place in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is typically full of marquee names, and this year is no exception, with eight of the world’s Top 10 players expected to participate.

Here’s what you need to know about Stuttgart:

When does the tournament start?

Main-draw play starts on Monday, April 15th, and continues through Sunday, April 21st. The qualifying rounds take place the preceding weekend, on Saturday, April 13th and Sunday, April 14th. The tournament will take place at Stuttgart’s Porsche Arena.

The singles main draw contains 28 players, with the top four seeds receiving first-round byes. 20 singles players are direct entries, and there will be four wild cards and four qualifiers.

The doubles main draw will have 16 teams, two of which will be wild-card teams.

Stuttgart is on Central European Summer Time (GMT+2).

This is one of two indoor-clay tournaments on the Hologic WTA Tour (the other, the inaugural WTA 250 Open Capfinances Rouen Métropole in Rouen, France, takes place during the same week).

The Wilson Roland Garros ball will be used at Stuttgart.

When are the finals?

The singles final will take place at 1:00pm local time on Sunday, April 21st. The doubles final will follow the singles final on Sunday.

Who are the defending champions?

Iga Swiatek won her second straight Porsche Tennis Grand Prix singles title last year, defeating Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4 in a rematch of the 2022 final. Sabalenka has reached the last three Stuttgart finals, finishing runner-up to the World No.1 on each occasion (Ashleigh Barty defeated Sabalenka in the 2021 final).

In last year’s doubles draw, Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs also went back-to-back. They defeated Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Giuliana Olmos 6-4, 6-1 to win their second straight Porsche Tennis Grand Prix doubles title.

Who is playing?

The cut-off for singles direct entry was based on the Hologic WTA Tour rankings of March 18th. No.31 Linda Noskova was the last direct entry at that time.

Wild cards have been awarded to two-time Stuttgart champion Angelique Kerber, her fellow Germans Laura Siegemund and Tatjana Maria, and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

On Friday, Americans Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro withdrew from the main-draw entry list due to change of schedule. Those withdrawals have moved World No.34 Donna Vekic and Paula Badosa (special ranking of No.34) into the main draw.

Top 8 seeds:

1. Every Swiatek
Ranking: No.1
Year-to-date win-loss record: 22-3 (2 titles)
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 63-9
Best Stuttgart result: Champion (2022, 2023)
Previous tournament: Miami Round of 16 (l. Alexandrova)

2. Aryna Sabalenka
Ranking: No.2
Year-to-date win-loss record: 14-4 (1 title)
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 50-23
Best Stuttgart result: Finalist (2021, 2022, 2023)
Previous tournament: Miami third round (l. Kalinina)

3. Coco Gauff
Ranking: No.3
Year-to-date win-loss record: 18-5 (1 title)
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 35-14
Best Stuttgart result: Round of 16 (2023)
Previous tournament: Miami Round of 16 (l. Garcia)

4. Elena Rybakina
Ranking: No.4
Year-to-date win-loss record: 22-4 (2 titles)
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 37-17
Best Stuttgart result: Round of 16 (2022, 2023)
Previous tournament: Miami final (l. Collins)

5. Zheng Qinwen
Ranking: No.7
Year-to-date win-loss record: 12-6
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 16-8
Best Stuttgart result: Round of 16 (2023)
Previous tournament: Miami third round (l. Azarenka)

6. Marketa Vondrousova
Ranking: No.8
Year-to-date win-loss record: 5-4
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 34-21
Best Stuttgart result: Round of 16 (2018, 2021)
Previous tournament: Indian Wells third round (gave walkover to Kostyuk)

7. Our Jabeur
Ranking: No.9
Year-to-date win-loss record: 2-6
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 51-23
Best Stuttgart result: Semifinal (2023)
Previous tournament: Charleston second round (l. Collins)

8. Jelena Ostapenko
Ranking: No.10
Year-to-date win-loss record: 17-6 (2 titles)
Career clay-court win-loss record in WTA and Grand Slam main draws: 41-33
Best Stuttgart result: Quarterfinal (2018)
Previous tournament: Miami third round (l. Kalinskaya)

Nine Grand Slam singles champions are currently entered in the main draw — joining seeded players Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff, Rybakina, Vondrousova and Ostapenko in the field are Barbora Krejcikova, and wild cards Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu.

With Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff and Vondrousova on the entry list, this year’s edition will feature all four of the reigning Grand Slam champions.

When are the draws?

You can find the singles and doubles draws here, and a breakdown of the singles draw here.

What are the points and prize money on offer in the singles main draw?

How did the rest of last year’s clay-court season play out?

With WTA 500 Charleston (on green clay) and WTA 250 Bogota kicking off the clay-court season last week (won by Danielle Collins and Camila Osorio respectively), the tour events paused for Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers week. Stuttgart and Rouen will restart tour-level play on the dirt.

Here’s a look at last year’s champions and finalists from the upcoming clay-court events:

Stuttgart (WTA 500): Iga Swiatek d. Aryna Sabalenka
Rouen (WTA 250): inaugural edition at Hologic WTA Tour-level

Madrid (WTA 1000): Aryna Sabalenka d. Every Swiatek

Rome (WTA 1000): Elena Rybakina d. Anhelina Kalinina

Strasbourg (WTA 250): Elina Svitolina d. Anna Blinkova
Rabat (WTA 250): Lucia Bronzetti d. Julia Grabher

Roland Garros (Grand Slam): Iga Swiatek d. Karolina Muchova