All the top women’s players will be in quarterfinal action at the 2025 WTA Stuttgart Open continues on Friday, April 18 as Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula take to court. You can get the best predictions and tips for the day from this tournament today.
Iga Swiatek v Jelena Ostapenko
Jelena Ostapenko 5, Iga Swiatek 0. That’s the kind of head to head you don’t get to see often between most pair of tennis players but when one of them has been a world number one or two for a while, and is 0-5 down to an opponent who is steady but typically been outside the top 10 or 20 (currently 24th), then there are a lot of questions about the mental edge involved.
The good news for Swiatek is clay is her most favourite surface by some distance and this is one place these two have never faced off before this.
Swiatek is a two-time winner in this competition too, and is coming off an easy, 6-2, 6-2 win over Jana Fett in the second round to announce her intentions. Ostapenko, on the other hand, made the third round at Charleston two weeks ago and is coming off back to back wins here against Dayana Yastremska and Emma Navarro – two tricky players in their own right.
So while Swiatek will be a heavy favourite to pull one back against Ostapenko, we cannot ignore that head to head record and think we might see a very big fight.
Swiatek v Ostapenko Tip: Over 18.5 games in the match: 11/20
Aryna Sabalenka v Elise Mertens
This is long-standing rivalry and a tennis friendship between former doubles partners Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens. Sabalenka has completely stopped playing doubles to focus on her singles and Grand Slam-winning career while Mertens has been in and around the top 30 of the rankings despite slipping down on a few occasions.
Overall, they have faced off 10 times and Sabalenka leads 8-2, with Mertens having won once in their first ever meeting on clay. She hasn’t defeated Sabalenka since 2018 despite having faced off seven times.
Sabalenka was supposed to kick-start her clay court swing for the season with her second round match against Anastasia Potapova following a first round bye. She got a walkover from the ailing Potapova.
On the other hand, Mertens has made the third round at the Charleston Open last week before going down fighting to Qinwen Zheng. She then eased past Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her opener before stunning Diana Shnaider in the second – again in straight sets.
That leads us to believe that Mertens has the form and fitness on clay to test out Sabalenka and we are looking at the games handicap market.
Sabalenka v Mertens Tip: Games Handicap Mertens +5.5: 10/11
Coco Gauff v Jasmine Paolini
World number four Coco Gauff has faced off twice against the sixth-ranked Jasmine Paolini before this and won both times. These matches came at the 2021 Adelaide International and the 2023 Cincinnati Open.
Following a first round bye, Gauff did not have too many worries in taking down Ella Seidel in the second, dropping a mere two games on her way.
Gauff has had a decent season but not one in which she has threatened to win any big titles so far but she will take confidence from the kind of clay court swing she had in 2024. There, she had made the semifinals at both, the Italian Open and the French Open.
Against her will be Jasmine Paolini, who had gone one better than Gauff at Roland Garros 2025. She was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek and enters this encounter on the back of two straight-set wins in a row.
Paolini defeated Eva Lys in her opener and then overcame Jule Niemeier in the second round. The opposition quality will suddenly rise substantially but we believe Paolini will hold her own.
Gauff v Paolini Tip: Paolini to win a set – Yes: 8/11
Other Stuttgart Open 2025 Predictions for the Day
- Jessica Pegula v Ekaterina Alexandrova: Pegula to win: 4/7
