Top seed Rybakina powers into Stuttgart quarter-finals

Top seed Elena Rybakina reached the quarter-finals of the Stuttgart Open with a routine 6-3 6-4 victory over Diana Shnaider on Thursday.

The Australian Open champion started her clay-court swing in commanding fashion, only needing 74 minutes to book a date with either Leylah Fernandez or Zeynep Sonmez.

Rybakina revealed in her pre-tournament press conference that she had struggled physically throughout the Sunshine Swing in the United States, having finished as the runner-up at Indian Wells and lost in the semi-finals at Miami, both to Aryna Sabalenka.

But she showed no signs of rust in her opening match in Germany, not allowing Shnaider a single break point throughout the contest.

A single break in each set was enough for Rybakina – she broke to love in game four of the opener, then edged a two-deuce 11th game in the second.

Mirra Andreeva will join Rybakina in the last eight, having earned a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over Alycia Parks.

Andreeva will now face third seed and clay-court specialist Iga Swiatek in a blockbuster quarter-final, with the Russian having already eliminated 2025 Stuttgart champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Data Debrief: Rybakina rolls on

Rybakina is now into her fifth quarter-final of the season, with her only failure to reach the last eight of a tournament this year coming in Dubai, where she retired from a last-16 tie against Antonia Ruzic.

This was her 22nd win at WTA Tour events this year, with only Jessica Pegula (24) and Sabalenka (23) boasting more.