The evolution of former Stuttgart champion Laura Siegemund

Laura Siegemund has won two singles title and 18 doubles titles in her two-decades long career on the WTA Tour. 

All of those titles were special in their own right -- especially the Grand Slams and the WTA Finals. But winning in Stuttgart in 2017, her second and last (to date) singles title, was especially meaningful.

It's essentially her home tournament -- the 38-year-old is from Metzingen, roughly a half hour from Stuttgart -- and she recalls how the year prior, she had come through qualifying to reach the final. Coming into the tournament as the World No. 71, she won seven straight matches and 14 straight sets before running into second-seeded Angelique Kerber, who beat her in the title match. 

The following year, now arriving at her home tournament with expectations, she wasn't thinking ahead to the semis or the final. She simply wanted to get through the first round and avoid a letdown.

"It's a long time ago, but I still remember it pretty vividly," Siegemund said ahead of this year's Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, her 13th time playing the tournament. "I was like, OK, I want to win the first round. I don't want to go out in the first round. But I wasn't really expecting to have another great tournament here. I thought it's kind of a one-time thing."

She got through that first-rounder, a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Shuai Zhang. After her second win, an upset of eighth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, the pressure started to slowly drip away. Feeling more confident and focused with every match, and not getting tired no matter how long or physical the matches were -- "I was really tough at the time," she says -- Siegemund pulled off two more upsets, taking down Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep, before edging past Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (5) in a thrilling final. 

Siegemund isn't much of a car person, but she certainly appreciated taking home the Porsche that comes with winning this tournament. She still has it nearly a decade later, and it holds great sentimental value.

The former US Open doubles champion doesn't feel the pressure that she once did on court, when she felt like she had so much to prove. But no matter how old and experienced you get, and no matter how many titles you've won, first rounds always come with nerves, she says.

"It doesn't matter how you arrive there, what you did before -- a first round is always a bit of a struggle for everybody," she said on Monday. "Then once you get rolling in the tournament, I find it easier."

It certainly was a struggle initially for Siegemund in her first-round match on Monday, dropping the first set to lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova. She looked better in the second set, but appeared to be on the brink down 4-0 in the tiebreaker. 

But in typical Siegemund fashion, she stayed mentally tough, played hard until the last point and found a way, ultimately prevailing 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

Though the World No. 51 wishes she still had the stamina she had in her 20s, she believes she's a better player now in many respects.

"I used to definitely be a clay-court grinder," she said prior to the win, reflecting on the earlier days of her career. "I wasn't playing very fast. I wasn't playing very aggressive. I was just a runner, and I was keeping balls in the court. And that has changed a lot. I've become a very aggressive player. Getting older, you don't have the same [physical ability] as when you're in your early or mid 20s, or even late 20s.

"And so I had to learn to be more aggressive. Taking the opportunity quicker in the point. And I've started to serve better, return better. Overall, I don't have a problem with pace anymore, and absorbing pace. And that always used to be my weakness. Now I just wish I had the legs from 10 years ago. But I'm happy with how my game evolved ... and it had to."

She'll have to absorb plenty of pace in her next match, against six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek on Wednesday. Swiatek, now being coached by Francisco Roig, will be playing her first match since being upset by Magda Linette in her Miami opener last month.

Swiatek has won both of their career meetings, though they haven't played since 2023 -- and they haven't played on clay since 2021.