Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen has decided to withdraw from the upcoming WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, scheduled to begin next week.
This was meant to be Zheng`s third appearance in Stuttgart. Her best performance at the event was last year when she reached the Round of 16, where she was defeated by Marta Kostyuk in a close match. In her most recent tournament, the world No. 8 player reached the quarterfinals of the Credit One Charleston Open, losing to Ekaterina Alexandrova. This marked her third consecutive quarterfinal showing and her first clay-court event of the season. Notably, she had previously won 13 clay-court matches in a row.
Joining Zheng on the sidelines are Ons Jabeur and Barbora Krejcikova. Jabeur is still recovering from a leg injury that forced her to retire from her third-round match at the Miami Open against Jasmine Paolini. Krejcikova has been out of action since the WTA Finals in Riyadh last October due to a persistent back injury.
The Stuttgart tournament will still feature a strong lineup, including world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, a three-time finalist here, and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, a two-time champion. The top 5 is rounded out by Jessica Pegula (No. 3), Coco Gauff (No. 4), and Mirra Andreeva (No. 5). The projected top 8 seeds also include Jasmine Paolini, Emma Navarro, and Diana Shnaider, who will have Dinara Safina, former world No. 1, as her new coach at the tournament.
Rebecca Sramkova from Slovakia will now enter the main draw as a lucky loser, taking Zheng`s place.
Jasper Hawthorne 
Dominic Ashworth