Wowsers… The 2016 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final in Stuttgart will be an all-German affair between the defending champion, Angelique Kerber and the unseeded, Laura Siegemund.
In one of the feel-good fairytale runs of the year so far, Siegemund is into her first WTA final on home soil. The world number 71 has won SEVEN matches, coming through three rounds of qualifying and winning four main draw matches. Siegemund has notched up three consecutive top ten wins and has yet to drop a set this week!
QR1: Siegemund d. Smitkova, 6-1 6-4 (71 minutes)
QR2: Siegemund d. Karatantcheva, 6-3 7-5 (99 minutes)
QR3: Siegemund d. Hercog, 6-4 6-3 (101 minutes)
R1: Siegemund d. Pavlyuchenkova, 6-0 7-5 (83 minutes)
R2: Siegemund d. Halep, 6-1 6-2 (69 minutes)
QF: Siegemund d. Vinci, 6-1 6-4 (76 minutes)
SF: Siegemund d. Radwanska, 6-4 6-2 (83 minutes)
Siegemund has been in dazzling form all week; she continued in much the same vein against the world number two, Radwanska to come away with a stunning win. Playing with aggression and bucket loads of variety, Siegemund’s ability to continually play different shots and spins seemed to completely flummox Radwanska. Siegemund hit so many drop shots, a surprisingly successful play against someone as quick and tactically astute as Radwanska. Add to that, Siegemund didn’t waver at all serving out both sets and showing no signs of nerves.
It was a breathtaking performance from Siegemund who marches into Sunday’s final with a wealth of confidence behind her. The 28-year-old has had a super year up till now; she reached the quarter-finals in her last tournament in Charleston, but has taken her game to a completely new level in Stuttgart.
Kerber reached her second consecutive final in Stuttgart, beating Petra Kvitova, 6-4 4-6 6-2 in an entertaining semi-final. While she didn’t match the lofty heights of her last two performances where she hit a combined 81 winners, this was another solid showing from Kerber. She raced out into a *4-1 first set lead, mostly thanks to Kvitova who dropped her second service game with three consecutive double faults. Kerber faced break points in her first four service games but served out the set at *5-4 to love.
The second set went with serve until Kerber played a loose game at *4-5 with scoreboard pressure. It was an excellent set of tennis; there was no drama, but it was high quality hitting from both. In particular, Kvitova played as stable a set as you’re likely to see from her, finishing with 15 winners to 7 unforced errors. After both went off the court at the end of the second set, the Czech player returned with a poor opening service game as Kerber refocused to go up a break. Kvitova came back into contention, breaking back to 2-2 with two of the best points of the match.
However, Kvitova was unable to hold her serve in the next game as Kerber produced an incredible get on break point to put the ball back in court with Kvitova’s next shot going wide. The third set was bubbling up very nicely, but simmered from there on with Kerber winning the last four games of the match.
Head-to-head record: This will be the first time that Kerber and Siegemund have played each other on the WTA tour.
Final thoughts: Siegemund will be bidding for her fourth consecutive top ten win… the mind boggles! One of the aspects of Siegemund’s run that has been so impressive is her fearlessness, showing no signs of doubt or nerves in her stampede through the draw. She will still go into this final as the underdog against Kerber and that will probably be of benefit to her. Kerber’s looked great this week but she has played no-one like Siegemund.
The question will be whether Siegemund has enough left in the tank and whether she can keep this form up… while she hasn’t played any long matches, the week will still have taken its toll mentally. Her serving stats were amazing against Radwanska with 90% first serves in… it will be tough to come close to that. The final is a big step-up from the semi-final in terms of the occasion but anything is possible based on the way she has elevated her game this week.
It’s going to be a fascinating final… i’m intrigued to see how it plays out in front of the home crowd and whether the support will be even. While I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if Siegemund does keep her run going, i’m leaning towards Kerber in three sets.
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I will vote to keep the ‘Fairy Tale’ going:) Laura to win in 3 sets,just such an impressive tournament for her.Good Luck in the final!
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I think porsche will be additional motivation for laura and I think she will again play match of her life to take the title
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I hope Laura wins that Porsche tomorrow. I’ve got a feeling Angie already drives a Porsche and doesn’t really need another one 🙂
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Wow – I’m totally impressed by Siegemund. I’m following her over one and a half years already and always thought that her game is beautifully refreshing. Her performance against Aga was amazing and fearless.
For me, this is a perfect line up for my Stuttgart day tomorrow – I’m German, and I’m gonna see a German final with a feel good story line and a hometown underdog on the one hand, and with my favourite player (and now GS champion!!!) on the other hand. Couldn’t be any better!!
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Hope you have a great time, Murphy! 😀
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WTA always give surprises. Last year, we had Bacsinzky coming from nowhere. Now, we have Laura Siegemund who plays average tennis for her entire career with a sudden surge. Good luck Laura!
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Sigmund beat a gimpy Halep,tired Vinci and Radwanska with no matches on this surface. She loses the Final. Some of you really are hilarious with your predictions
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Aga Radwanska had the same chance to win that match as Laura did, in fact even more so because she didn’t have to qualify and so should be less tired by the semifinal stage.
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I don’t always give credence to Tennis Forum but there’s a good discussion on there at the moment about Aga and why she keeps bowing out at the semifinal stage;
http://www.tennisforum.com/12-general-messages/1086481-radwanska-struggling-semifinals-year.html
I agree with the poster there who thinks that she has a stamina problem. She seems to only be able to play her best tennis for four or five matches before she runs out of steam (that would explain, for example, her subpar performance against CSN at Doha this year and against Domi at the 2014 Australian Open). If she wants the slam that she and her many fans want her to win, she’s got to find a way to deal with this.
None of this detracts from Laura’s achievement in playing a superb match yesterday.
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Trying to downplay Siegemund’s results is hilarious.
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nope. simply told you who would win and why.
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watch siegemund win.. Kerber is just going to push the ball and eventually give in to siegemund’s tenacity and preciseness..
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Sudden surge winners would not win in the final – Ostapenko, Vesina and d Sigemund.
Kerber is that type of player Sigemund hates to play. She lost to the similar types of players in the past.
Kerber may struggle to cope with her for a while since they have never played with each other before. Once Kerber settles down, she will beat her.
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all your predictions will go for a toss, wait and watch.. siegemund in 2, or 3 at best
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I hope you’re right because I want Laura to win but I think Angie Kerber in very good form, as she clearly is at the moment, is too strong a player for her. I agree with the 3 sets but I think Angie will prevail in the end.
Be glad to be wrong though!
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In other news; Cagla Buyukakcay’s in her first WTA final in Istanbul today and hoping for her first WTA title (had to copy her surname, I couldn’t have spelt it).
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Cagla won! She looked delighted as you would expect. She’s the first Turkish player to even reach a WTA final, never mind win a title.
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I watched the last two sets of the final, amazing scenes! Such a big moment for Cagla and Turkish tennis. Equally, felt bad for Kovinic who seemed to look injured at the end but she gave a really nice speech considering the circumstances.
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Vrooming off in another little Porsche for you to drive off in! Well played Kerber!
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