Aryna Sabalenka survives day of upsets in Stuttgart as Swiatek, Pegula and Gauff all fall

The entire WTA Top 4 were in action on Quarterfinals Day at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany on Saturday, but only one of them—the world No. 1—was able to survive.

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who was actually playing her first match of the week, won a relatively close first set and then cruised in the second set to defeat Elise Mertens, 6-4, 6-1.

It was her eighth straight win over Mertens, a streak that dates back to 2019—she’s also won her last 15 sets in a row against the Belgian, with whom she’s won two Grand Slam doubles titles.

Sabalenka had a bye in the first round and a walkover in the second round, and there was no play in Stuttgart on Good Friday.

“I’ve never played first match on Saturday—that’s something crazy and I’m really glad to be able to win the match!” she said in her on-court interview. “It’s been a fun week in Stuttgart. At least I was able to explore the city, finally, I don’t know how many years I’ve been coming here and never had a chance to go out.

“That was a fun week, but now it’s time to do the work.”

The rest of the WTA Top 4 weren’t as fortunate, though...

The world No. 3, Jessica Pegula, was the first favorite to go out, falling to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the early match, 6-0, 6-4.

It was Alexandrova’s fifth Top 10 win of the year, which actually ties her for the most Top 10 wins on the women’s tour so far this year alongside Madison Keys and Mirra Andreeva.

Then, in the second match of the day, Jelena Ostapenko continued her mastery over Iga Swiatek, battling past the world No. 2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, to improve to 6-0 in the pair’s head-to-head.

No one else has ever defeated Swiatek six times, let alone doing it undefeated. The Latvian is 12-3 in sets against the Pole, too.

And in the last match of the day, following Sabalenka’s win, Coco Gauff bowed out, the world No. 4 falling in an all-Top 10 clash against world No. 6 Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

Gauff originally led 4-2 in the first set before Paolini won six games in a row to lead 6-4, 2-0 and the Italian was never behind again, finishing the match with 20 winners to just 12 unforced errors.

“I was trying to repeat to myself to keep going,” she said about the early deficit. “Then it started going really well, I started to hit the ball better and it kept getting better, and I’m really happy how it went.”

Gauff finished the match with 19 winners to 27 unforced errors.

Sabalenka and Paolini will now face each other in another all-Top 10 clash in the semifinals. Sabalenka leads the series, 4-2, but more importantly has won their last three in straight sets, including a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Miami just a few weeks ago.

“I hope she’s not playing as well as she was in Miami, because she was playing unbelievable there,” Paolini commented.

“I will try my best tomorrow to make it difficult for her.”

Alexandrova and Ostapenko, ranked No. 22 and No. 24 in the world, respectively, have split their 10 career meetings evenly, 5-5.