Who Will Win The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix? (Predictions Inside!)



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Karolina Pliskova made history last year by becoming the first robot to win a title in Stuttgart.
                                        
This week the tour heads to Stuttgart, Germany for the Sharapova Apologist Grand Prix  Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Although not the first tournament of the clay season, the tournament in some ways marks the official start of the clay season since it attracts so many top players, and is not played on the irrelevant, verdant variety of the surface.
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Sorry not sorry, Charleston


So let's dig into the draw!                                                       

                                                  Who are the favorites?

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The most accurate way to predict WTA tournament champions.
Karolina Pliskova is the defending champion and has been solid this year. However, she doesn't have the easiest draw and would have to beat several serious clay court players to even get to the final. Simona Halep is arguably the best clay court player in the women's game right now, and has to be considered a contender. Petra Kvitova is leading the WTA Race to Singapore and is always a threat on clay, as is Kiki Bertens who has a great clay court season last year.

The women listed above are the most obvious favorites on paper, but don't sleep on Estonian Anett Kontaveit and Belgium's Elise Mertens. With her heavy strokes and uncanny ability to change the direction of the ball, Kontaveit has seemed on the cusp of doing something truly big for a year or so. Mertens is a skilled clay courter. Watching her game is the equivalent of taking a cap-full of NyQuil, but she seems primed for another good result this year after winning Doha this February.

                              Juicy First Round Matches (Well, match)


Garbiñe Muguruza and Victoria Azarenka are scheduled for a rematch of their epic final in Monterrey which...ended in an retirement from Azarenka as she trailed 1-6,-1-3. Muguruza didn't look to great in her defeats in the Fed Cup this weekend...so I'm tentatively picking Azarenka to get the win here. 
 
Unless Victoria is extremely injured in Stuttgart again.


 Other interesting first rounds: Wang Qiang vs. Hsieh Su-Wei, Donna Vekic vs. Angelique Kerber

                                     Ok, shut up and give actual predictions!

Fine...bitch.

Quarterfinals:
Elise Mertens def. Naomi Osaka (yeah, I know I didn't mention Osaka in the favorite section, and she is the World Number One but we still don't know where she's at)

 Pliskova def. Kontaveit

 Kvitova def. Anastasija Sevastova

 Halep def. Bertens

 Semifinals:
Mertens def. Pliskova (This could really go either way)
Halep def. Kvitova

 Final
Halep def. Mertens 

 Potential Dark Horse Spoiler: Anett Kontaveit
Totally Random WTA WTF Pick: Caroline Garcia (because why not?)

 So  do y'all think I'm crazy for picking Mertens to make the final when she hasn't done much over the past two months? Sound off below! 

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