Jasmine Paolini and Emma Navarro, living up to their seedings, swiftly secured victories in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Tuesday evening. This WTA 500 event is held on indoor clay courts in Stuttgart, Germany.
No. 5 seed Paolini from Italy only needed 1 hour and 4 minutes to defeat Eva Lys with a score of 6-2, 6-1 in the opening match of the night session. This win brings Paolini closer to repeating her quarterfinal appearance from the previous year.
World No. 68 Lys, entering Stuttgart as the top-ranked German player for the first time, couldn`t overcome Paolini`s strong return game on Tuesday.
`[Lys] is a very nice person, and I apologize to you all,` Paolini said to the German audience in her on-court interview, receiving warm applause in response. `I have to perform my best!`
Paolini demonstrated dominance by winning 73 percent of her return points against Lys`s first serve. She successfully converted 6 out of 8 break points. Her record against Lys improves to 2-0 (4-0 in sets).
World No. 6 Paolini is set to face another German player, this time a wild card entrant Jule Niemeier, in the second round. Paolini holds a 2-0 advantage over Niemeier, with both wins dating back to 2022.
Later in the evening, No. 7 seed Navarro from the United States made an impressive debut at the Stuttgart tournament, overcoming Brazil`s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-0.
In their 1-hour and 16-minute match between Top 20 players, Navarro hit 24 winners compared to Haddad Maia`s eight. Navarro capitalized on four of her nine break point opportunities and did not lose her serve throughout the match.
`I`ve played many long matches and three-set matches this year,` Navarro mentioned afterwards. `Finishing a match quicker feels good. I am happy with my current form… This is my first tournament on red clay this year, so I am embracing it and enjoying myself here.`
Navarro had previously lost to Haddad Maia twice on clay last year, making Tuesday`s victory a significant turnaround. World No. 11 Navarro continues her pursuit of her second WTA 500 title of the year, having already won the WTA 500 Merida trophy on hard court in March.
Unfortunately for Haddad Maia, this loss marks her ninth consecutive defeat since reaching the third round of the 2025 Australian Open.
Navarro`s next challenge will be against a former Grand Slam champion in the second round. She will face Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, for the first time in her career.
Rupert Caldwell