The Top 3 players in the WTA Singles Rankings are among those on the preliminary entry list for April's Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
World No.1 Ashleigh Barty, No.2 Naomi Osaka and No.3 Simona Halep will headline the WTA 500 clay-court event, which will run April 17-25.
Barty, who has finished at the top of the rankings in the past two seasons and won her first Grand Slam title on the clay courts of Roland Garros in 2019, will be making her Porsche Tennis Grand Prix debut.
"Stuttgart will be a great way to begin my European clay swing," said Barty, the winner of both the Porsche Race to Shenzhen and the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen in 2019. “I have heard fantastic things about the tournament so I am really looking forward to playing the event for the first time.”
Osaka and Halep will be seeking their first Porsche Tennis Grand Prix trophies. Osaka's best result at the event is a semifinal showing at the most recent edition, in 2019. Former World No.1 Osaka is coming off a title run at the Australian Open last week, her career fourth Grand Slam championship.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Halep, another former World No.1, is a two-time Stuttgart semifinalist, in 2015 and 2017.
A host of other top players join them on the preliminary entry list, including three former champions: Petra Kvitova (2019), Karolina Pliskova (2018) and Porsche Brand Ambassador Angelique Kerber (2015 and 2016). Pliskova and Kerber are two more former World No.1 players.
Former World No.1 players Victoria Azarenka and Garbiñe Muguruza are also scheduled to appear at the Porsche Arena for the event, which was elected the most popular tournament in its category when the players last voted.
The preliminary entry list is "an indication of the esteem with which our tournament is held all over the world," Tournament Director Markus Günthardt said. "I’m sure other world-class players will add their names to the list before entries officially close four weeks before the tournament.”
