Stuttgart 411: Dates, top players, withdrawals, prize money and more
The third week of the Clay-Court swing brings the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz to Stuttgart for the WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
And as the direct lead-up event to the back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, it features a loaded field as players look to round into form for the heart of the clay season.
Played indoors in the Porsche-Arena, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix dates back to 1978, though it was played on hard courts until 2008. Now a staple of the Clay-Court swing, it continues to attract top players and serves as a barometer of who's clay-ready heading into the French Open.
Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, from important dates and key players to defending champions and prize money.
When does the tournament start, and when will each round be played?
Qualifying action will kick off on Saturday, April 11, and the first round starts on Monday, April 13.
The tournament will run through Sunday, April 19, when both the singles and doubles finals will be played. The singles final is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. local time, and the doubles final will follow it.
Below are the daily schedules for singles and doubles play.
Singles schedule
Qualifying: April 11 and April 12
First round: April 13, April 14 and April 15
Second round: April 15 and April 16
Quarterfinals: April 17
Semifinals: April 18
Final: April 19
Doubles schedule
First round: April 13, April 14 and April 15
Quarterfinals: April 15 and April 16
Semifinals: April 18
Final: April 19
How big is the draw, and who are the top players in the field?
Like the Upper Austria Ladies Linz the week prior, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix features a very small 28-player singles draw. (For comparison, the Credit One Charleston Open, also a WTA 500, had a 48-player singles draw.) The doubles draw will include 16 teams.
The 28-player field includes 19 direct entries, four qualifiers, four wild cards and a special exemption. The top four seeds will receive a bye into the second round.
The player list is stacked, and it feels especially so considering the small field. Of the 28 players in the Stuttgart draw, six are in the Top 10 of the PIF WTA Rankings and 12 are in the Top 20.
Unfortunately, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka isn't one of those Top 10 players. A four-time finalist in Stuttgart, she was initially scheduled to play but was forced to withdraw with an injury.
World No. 2 Elena Rybakina now headlines the field, and she's joined by fellow Top 5 players Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek. All three Grand Slam champions will be making their 2026 clay-court debuts.
Jasmine Paolini is also in the field, as is Elina Svitolina, Mirra Andreeva, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova.
Alexandra Eala is also in the main draw following the withdrawals of Emma Navarro and Qinwen Zheng.
Barbora Krejcikova, out since mid-February, is scheduled to return to the tour in Stuttgart.
The draw will be revealed on Saturday, April 11. To view the complete player list, click here.
Wild cards: Laura Siegemund, Eva Lys, Ella Seidel, Noma Noha Akugue
Withdrawals: Aryna Sabalenka, Anna Kalinskaya, Qinwen Zheng, Emma Navarro
Main-draw additions: Alexandra Eala, Magdalena Frech
Who are the defending champions?
Jelena Ostapenko, also in this year's field, is the defending singles champion in Stuttgart. The World No. 23 had a dream run last year, upsetting seventh-seeded Navarro and second-seeded Swiatek in three-setters before knocking off Alexandrova in the semifinals. Then, in the final, she upset top-seeded Sabalenka 6-4, 6-1, in one of the rare instances over the past few years that the four-time Grand Slam champion has looked completely overmatched.
It was Ostapenko's first win over Sabalenka in four tries -- she had taken just one set in their previous three matches -- and her first title on clay since winning Roland Garros eight years earlier.
Ostapenko was nearly flawless, winning 81 percent of her first-serve points and allowing Sabalenka to win just 53 percent of hers. Ostapenko managed to get 11 break points, converting six of them to gain control of the match. She won eight of the last nine games, and Sabalenka won just 10 points in the second set (which, looking back, seems unfathomable considering how dominant she's been the last two years).
"Honestly, I didn't tell anyone -- I was keeping it to myself -- but I felt very confident since the first day," she told reporters after winning her ninth career title. "I had, like, strange -- not strange -- but in a good way, a strange feeling. When I came here, I felt like something is going to happen this week. I pretty much felt that I can win this tournament.
"Because I think I'm improving day by day and I'm playing better and better. Yeah, I think I deserve it."
Previous champions in this year's draw include Rybakina (2024), Swiatek (2022 and 2023) and Siegemund (2017). 2018 champion Karolina Pliskova is a main draw alternate.
Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe are the defending doubles champions. They beat Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-3 in last year's final.
Neither Dabrowski nor Routliffe is in this year's doubles draw, and Alexandrova is only playing singles. Zhang will play with Ostapenko.
What are the rankings points and prize money at stake?
There is $1,206,446 up for grabs in the singles draw, the same purse offered in Linz the week prior.
Here's a full breakdown of the prize money and rankings points at stake at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Champion: €161,310 (~ $188,438) | 500 rankings points
Finalist: €99,565 (~ $116,309) | 325 rankings points
Semifinalists: €57,395 (~ $67,047) | 195 rankings points
Quarterfinalists: €30,435 (~ $35,553) | 108 rankings points
Round of 16: €15,690 (~ $18,329) | 60 rankings points
Round of 32: €11,309 (~ $13,211) | 1 ranking point
The doubles champions will earn €53,510 -- approximately $62,509 -- and 500 rankings points.