Czech teen Linda Noskova added another Top 10 win to her growing tally this season with a 6-3, 6-1 first-round victory over No.8 seed Jelena Ostapenko at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Noskova, ranked World No.31, needed just 68 minutes to upset 10th-ranked Ostapenko of Latvia and book her spot in the second round of her Stuttgart debut.
Noskova has already accumulated three Top 10 wins this year. She shocked World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open, en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Noskova followed that up with another Top 10 win over Maria Sakkari in Doha.
Ostapenko became the latest elite player to fall victim to Noskova's power game. In a clash between two big hitters, Noskova had three more winners than Ostapenko -- and the Czech's 12 unforced errors was less than half of Ostapenko's 25.
Noskova let a commanding 5-1 lead slip a bit as Ostapenko edged back to 5-3, but the teen quickly reached triple set point with a return winner, then converted her first chance to grab the opener. Noskova sailed through the second set, and she finished the match a perfect 5-for-5 on break points.
Vondrousova victorious: Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova also advanced into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix second round on Tuesday. No.6 seed Vondrousova of the Czech Republic bested Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-3 in a 1-hour and 26-minute first-round encounter.
Vondrousova had not played a match since ceding a walkover win to Marta Kostyuk in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells over a month ago. But the Wimbledon-winning left-hander looked strong in Stuttgart, converting four of her eight break points to prevail.
"First match on clay, you know, it's always difficult," Vondrousova said afterwards. "I didn't play for a couple of weeks. I didn't know what to expect, but overall, I'm very happy with my performance."
Trailing 4-2 in the opening set, Vondrousova used some of her exceptional court craft to reel off four straight games, clinching the one-set lead by chasing down a drop shot and firing a passing winner.
Vondrousova had three chances to lead 4-1 in the second set, but Vekic battled back with a passing winner of her own to pull back on serve at 3-2. However, a drop shot misfire by Vekic handed Vondrousova another break for 5-3, and the Czech served out the match, completing affairs with two back-to-back aces.
With the win, Vondrousova matches her career-best Round of 16 showings in Stuttgart from 2018 and 2021. She also claims a 2-1 lead in her head-to-head with Vekic.
Mertens sets Swiatek showdown: Elise Mertens also picked up a win on Tuesday evening, toppling homeland hope Tatjana Maria 6-1, 4-6, 6-0. In the third set, Mertens won all nine of her first-service points and six of Maria's seven second-service points.
Highlights: Mertens def. Maria
World No.30 Mertens of Belgium will now experience something for the first time in her career -- a first singles meeting with World No.1 and two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek.
They have previously met in doubles, at 2021 Roland Garros, where Swiatek and Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Mertens and Hsieh Su-wei in the Round of 16. Swiatek and Mattek-Sands went from there to the Roland Garros final before losing to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
"At the age of 22, it's unbelievable what [Swiatek's] already achieved," Mertens said. "Definitely in the future, too, she will achieve a lot more. ... She's a bit like an all-court, all-around player, so you don't really find a lot of weaknesses. I think of course that's why she's No.1."
