Stuttgart Open: Marta Kostyuk Rubs Shoulders With Top Dogs Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek for WTA Race to Riyadh

The Stuttgart Open has thrown up some real upsets this week! Ons Jabeur and Jelena Ostapenko were eliminated in the round of 32, but an even bigger shock followed. Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka were eliminated in the quarterfinal. Gauff was bested by Marta Kostyuk, who reaped a handsome reward of ranking points after her win, helping her move to a shiny new place.

As she met Coco Gauff in the quarterfinal of the Stuttgart Open, no one believed she would lose to Kostyuk. But she stunned the 20-year-old 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. The victory awarded her a chance to move to the semifinals for the first time in her career, giving her 195 ranking points. While her position on the WTA rankings table is 27, she has found herself as a contender in the Top 10 of the WTA Finals Race.

She currently occupies the 9th spot, with 1545 points in the race. If the table maintains shape, she will be an alternative. Hence, she needs to keep consistency while increasing her level to move to a spot which grants her entry into the WTA Finals.  Other players have also had a chance to move higher on the table.

Gauff, despite the loss, moved up from 6 to 5. Jasmine Paolini also jumped from 8 to 7, even though she lost to Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinal. Way down the list, Markéta Vondroušová, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, moved from 36 to 27 in the WTA Race. 

While the three players found a boost in their positions, several other players found themselves going down the table as they failed to accumulate enough points. 

Players who suffered even more after losing in the Stuttgart Open

Qinwen Zheng dropped from 5 to 6 after her exit in round 16. Jelena Ostapenko also fell from 7 to 8 as she gained only 1 point in her opening-round elimination. Whereas Anna Kalinskaya fell from 9th to 10th.

Daria Kasatkina lost all prospects, even as an alternative, as she exited the Top 10 for being absent from Stuttgart. The top of the table is occupied by Iga Swiatek, who is 447 points above the holder of the second position, Elena Rybakina. She is followed by Aryna Sabalenka and then Danielle Collins, who has currently taken the tennis world by storm.

The Stuttgart Open semifinals are about to commence, which will change the shape of the table once again. Who will proceed into the finals? Who will win? Drop your guesses in the comments!