Elena Rybakina, the top seed, went to the quarterfinals of the WTA clay-court tournament in Stuttgart on Thursday after defeating Diana Shnaider in straight sets. Coco Gauff, the current French Open champion, also made it. In one hour and twelve minutes, the 26-year-old Rybakina, who won the German tournament in 2024 but missed the competition last year, defeated the unseeded Russian 6-2, 6-4 thanks to her service game. Despite improving in the second set, Shnaider—ranked 19th in the world—was undone by double faults at pivotal points, which allowed Kazakh Rybakina to take advantage.

After finishing the match with her ninth ace, Rybakina will next face Leylah Fernandez of Canada, who defeated Zeynep Sonmez in three sets late on Thursday. Fernandez prevailed 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, and 7-6 (7/5).
Gauff, ranked third in the world, defeated Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets to begin her quest for her first Stuttgart title.
The American second seed defeated Czech Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-1 to secure a quarterfinal match on Friday.
Rafael Nadal, the 14-time French Open champion, served as the blueprint for Gauff's clay court style, but she acknowledged that she was still working to catch up to the legendary Spanish player.

Rafa is the best player on the clay court. "I'm like the Walmart version of Rafa—I don't want to be destroyed online," Gauff added. "I don't quite play like him, but I try to hit my forehand like him.
Muchova defeated Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 earlier on Thursday to secure a match against Gauff
In their round of 16 encounter, world number nine Mirra Andreeva defeated American Alycia Parks in straight sets, extending her winning run to six games
After winning the clay event in Linz last week, sixth seed Andreeva is in excellent condition. On Wednesday, she defeated reigning champion Jelena Ostapenko and easily defeated Parks 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.The Russian will face Iga Swiatek, a two-time Stuttgart champion who defeated Laura Siegemund handily on Wednesday in her first clay-court match of the year.The 18-year-old Andreeva remarked of her quarterfinal opponent, "Obviously, she's a great player, but I'll just approach this match as every other match that I had before."I'm just really interested to see how it goes because she's had a successful past with clay."
Muchova's countryman Linda Noskova defeated Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with Elina Svitolina, who easily defeated German Eva Lys 6-1, 6-0.