STUTTGART, Germany — The 2024 Stuttgart champion Elena Rybakina jetted off to a strong start at the 2026 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

Stuttgart: Scores | Draws | Order of play

After foregoing the 2025 edition, electing to begin her clay court season in Madrid, the World No. 2 returned to southwestern Germany as this year’s top seed to begin her clay stint. She handled Diana Shnaider with ease in a 6-2, 6-4 win.

The matchup was intriguing — it was their first meeting on the WTA Tour and marked the first time Rybakina faced a lefty this season. The Kazakh’s win over Leylah Fernandez in Tokyo last October was the last left-handed opponent she faced. 

The conditions — or lack thereof because of the indoor venue — played to Rybakina’s strength, who was highly effective on her serve as she normally is. Ahead of the tournament, Rybakina said to press that she had been mostly training indoors to adjust to the surface, and said she finds it a good segway before transitioning outdoors after.

Of her five service games in the opening set, she won three at-love, and lost just a total of three points in the other two combined. The rallies weren’t too long in the first set, as Rybakina closed it out in just 29 minutes across nine games. Often, the serve allowed her to create quick, two to three-shot rallies, where she targeted Shnaider’s backhand to create an opportunity for a winner. Rybakina won 17 of the first 22 points, sprinting out to a 4-1 lead. 

As for Shnaider, she performed much better in the second set, but untimely double faults proved to be a dagger throughout the match. In the second, she had held serve consistently up until a deuce, with Rybakina up ad-40, but Shnaider’s gifted Rybakina with the break. Rybakina closed the match on serve, capping it off with her signature ace, in one hour and 12 minutes.

What’s next? Rybakina awaits the winner of Thursday’s night session finale Leylah Fernandez and Zeynep Sonmez. Against the former, Rybakina has split the four meetings with the Canadian, though this will be the first encounter on clay. Should Sonmez prevail, she’ll face Rybakina for the first time in her career. 

More to come…