The first round at the 2025 WTA Stuttgart Open will kick-start from Monday, April 14 as Clara Tauson, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens take to court. Get the best predictions and tips for the day from this tournament today.
Anastasia Potapova v Clara Tauson
This will be the third meeting between these two players, having faced off in 2023 and 2024 as well. Clara Tauson had won their match at the 2023 US Open before Anastasia Potapova made it 1-1 in Cleveland last year.
Both those matches had come in hardcourt competitions making this their first meeting on clay. This will be their respective first matches on this surface for the season too, so there could be a bit of unknown involved here.
Interestingly enough, both players are also coming into this with a title win under their belt for the season. That had come in Cluj-Napoca for Potapova while Tauson had bagged a victory in Auckland before also making the final at the WTA Dubai.
On clay, both players have a decent track record, with both Potapova and Tauson having reached the fourth round at the French Open and having had a third round appearance there too.
All in all, this could be an exciting match-up that sees them get to the third set.
Potapova v Tauson Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Diana Shnaider v Veronika Kudermetova
World number 13 Diana Shnaider will face off against fellow Russian and 51st-ranked Veronika Kudermetova in the first round here. They will be playing for the second time against each other with their first meeting having come at the 2023 Charleston Open, on clay, with Shnaider having won that encounter in straight sets.
Shnaider hasn’t had much of a season so far with a win-loss record of 8-9. And she will know she needs to start winning and going deep into competitions if she wants to remain in the top 20.
The good news for Shnaider is that her record on clay is a solid one and she is coming off a 15-5 record on this surface from the previous season. This included a title win at Budapest and another in a WTA 125 competition in Paris. She will look to turn things around here.
Kudermetova was forced to play in the qualifiers here to make it through, defeating Kathinka Von Deichmann and Sara Errani to enter the main draw. Before that, Kudermetova had also made the second round in Charleston but overall, she hasn’t had a great time on clay other than her shock quarterfinal appearance at the 2022 French Open.
While she might still put up a fight, we think Shniader will have a good chance to grab a win here.
Shnaider v Kudermetova Tip: Shnaider to win: 8/11
Elise Mertens v Aliaksandra Sasnovich
This will be the seventh overall meeting between these two played which includes one in the qualifiers of a WTA event back in 2017 and a Fed Cup match in 2020 and the overall scoreline is 3-3. Elise Mertens and Aliaksandra Sasnovich haven’t played each other since 2021 though.
Why this is important to note is that Mertens has improved remarkable since then, while Sasnovich’s form has fallen away since.
Mertens has had a solid season again and while at 29th in the world, she is still some way away from her career-best 12th, she has slowly and steadily improved. Clay, however, isn’t Mertens’ most preferred surface and that was on show when she was shot out at the Charleston Open two weeks ago, losing in three sets to Qinwen Zheng.
Sasnovich comes through here with straight-set wins over Louisa Chirico and Erika Andreeva but her real test will come now as she faces off against a player ranked more than 80 places ahead of her.
Where she might hold some positivity is her only previous match on clay against Mertens had resulted in a win for Sasnovich. It had come in 2020 and while things have changed dramatically since, it could still give her some hope.
Mertens v Sasnovich Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Other Stuttgart Open 2025 Predictions for the Day
- TBA
