Friday was quarter-finals day at the 2019 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with three of the four matches going the distance. Read on for the highlights from Friday’s action in Stuttgart including a review of the final match of the day between Victoria Azarenka and Anett Kontaveit. I’m out tomorrow so there will be no Saturday post. I’ll be back for the final…
Match reviews 🎾
Anett Kontaveit d. Victoria Azarenka, 5-7 7-5 3-0 ret.
Kontaveit continued her dreamy record in Stuttgart with a narrow escape, winning over Victoria Azarenka via retirement in the third set. Azarenka served for the match in the second set and was two points from the win but couldn’t get it done. Kontaveit is such an underrated fighter on tour. The Estonian player produced a sensational cross-court backhand to break Azarenka when serving for the match before going on to force a deciding set. Azarenka was bothered by a shoulder injury as Kontaveit began to attack the second serve.
This was a good match and both started well – love a match with two in-form players! It was a disappointing end for Azarenka but she’s heading in the right direction and there are plenty of positives to take away from this tournament. Azarenka is barely defending any points up to Roland Garros so I hope she can stay healthy. I’m completely sold on the Kontaveit-Sears partnership. It’s now back-to-back semi-finals for Kontaveit in both Stuttgart and on tour in 2019. I think a lot of it comes down to belief for Kontaveit and she seems to be growing in confidence. I said it during in Miami but her general attitude makes me want to root for her.
Stat watch
Kiki Bertens scored her first top 5 win of 2019, beating Angelique Kerber in two tight sets. It was another serving masterclass from Bertens who didn’t face a break point and put constant pressure on the Kerber second serve. Bertens finished with stats of 29 winners to 21 unforced errors. The Dutch player will reignite her match-up with Kvitova where the pair are tied at 2-2 in their H2H. Their last match on clay in the final of Madrid was a classic…
Super snap 📸
P3tra made an appearance on Friday, coming from a set down to beat Anastasija Sevastova.
Press highlights 📰
An interesting press conference with Osaka after she rallied from 1-5 down (!) in the third set of her quarter-final match to beat Donna Vekic.
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Tomorrow’s OOP ⭐
Who you got in Saturday’s semi-finals?
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Interesting final! Be interesting if Anett wins and we carry on with new title winners!
Vondrousova now won 18 of her last 21 matches, I think it’s fair to say that she’s enjoying her breakthrough!
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