Elena Rybakina confirmed she completed her driver’s test in the Porsche she earned by winning the Stuttgart title in 2024. The reigning Australian Open champion revealed the detail after a straight-sets victory over Diana Shnaider, a match in which she won 91% of her first-serve points to prevail 6-3, 6-4.

“Winning the tournament gave me a good push to finally do my exams and get the driver’s license, so I have it now and I’m enjoying the car,” Rybakina said on court after defeating Diana Shnaider in straight sets. “I’m enjoying the rides when I do my pre-season.”

Rybakina first confirmed she had earned her driver’s license back in 2025, joking she had become her team’s de facto chauffeur. As the top seed in Stuttgart this week, she did not drive to her first clay-court tournament of the season, but she made clear she is motivated to claim a second Porsche Tennis Grand Prix crown in three years. She will next face either Leylah Fernandez or Zeynep Sonmez.

Mirra Andreeva joined Rybakina in the quarterfinals, the No. 6 seed showing signs of renewed form on clay. Andreeva arrived in Stuttgart fresh off her second title of the year in Linz and, after dethroning defending champion Jelena Ostapenko, navigated a first-set tiebreak to defeat American Alycia Parks 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Andreeva had battled inconsistency earlier in the season after opening the year with a title in Adelaide and enduring difficult losses at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open. “I’m just super happy with the way I stayed composed,” Andreeva said after the match . “I felt like at some moments I was getting a little bit more tight, because for me, every point was important when you play against these kind of dangerous players.”

Andreeva has also spoken previously about learning to drive. “I’ve been practicing and it’s not like I don’t know anything about it,” she said back in Indian Wells . “I just need to have some time to get my driver’s license at some point, but I think I’m going to survive on the road.”

© 2026 Daniel Kopatsch

Mirra Andreeva produced a late rally to win the Upper Austria Ladies Linz title, recovering from a lopsided start to beat Anastasia Potapova 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Sunday’s final. The top seed fell behind 6-1, 1-0 to the newly-minted Austrian, who started competing for the country this year, before shifting momentum and closing out a one hour and 54-minute victory.

The 18-year-old, who previously triumphed in Adelaide in January, collected her fifth career trophy and her second of 2026. The world No. 1 joins Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula as the only players on tour so far this season to win more than one title.

After the match, Andreeva — now 3-1 against Potapova — said that Potapova, against whom she is now 3-1, “pushed [her] to [her] limit.” She then offered the same personal acknowledgement she has used after other big wins, saying: “I want to thank myself today again for fighting until the end. For trying to find solutions. For never stopping and believing until the end that maybe somehow I can turn it around. I think it paid off today as well. Last thanks goes to myself.”

Andreeva finished with 32 winners and 35 unforced errors. Potapova hit 30 winners and 42 unforced errors.

Potapova, who is Russian-born and won the Linz title in 2023, became the first player representing Austria to reach the Linz final since the tournament began in 1991.

“After watching her this week in Charleston, I’m convinced Jessica Pegula has magical powers,” Chris Evert tweeted after the defending champion rallied once more to reach the Credit One Charleston Open final.

The defending champion again leaned on late-match resolve, claiming a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Iva Jovic to advance. It was the fourth match this week in which Pegula trailed 0-2 in the final set before reversing course and advancing.

“I guess my super power for this week is, I don’t know, maybe my stamina, my mental fortitude,” Pegula said, giving a more academic assessment of Evert’s tweet. “I don’t know what it is, but, yeah, I guess that’s a big compliment coming from Chrissie.

“So, I think, yeah, maybe also like cat with nine lives. I’ve heard that a few times, too. I do feel a bit more like that than a super power, to be honest. Maybe just a little lucky.”

Pegula has been remarkably consistent since last summer, reaching at least the quarterfinals of every tournament she has entered since the 2025 US Open. She also captured a title earlier this season at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and now will face Yuliia Starodubtseva in the Charleston final. Starodubtseva, 26, advanced after upsetting Madison Keys to reach the biggest final of her career.

“She played pretty lights out today, it seems like,” Pegula said in her post-match press conference. “I’m kind of taking a mental couple hours before I have to tap into kind of maybe watching some of her matches and see what she’s done really well and what she’s been doing here too.”

Pegula also discussed gains to her serve over the past year and how those improvements have come.

“It wasn’t really like super intention as far as like I wasn’t necessarily working on it,” Pegula clarified. “I’m always working a little bit on placement and getting my serve bigger, but it kind of just happened naturally with all the stuff that we’ve been working on. I haven’t really changed much, to be honest, as far as using my legs or my motion. It’s really more just, I think, using my hand. And I have a pretty live arm. And so I’ve always thought my serve could be much bigger for my size, because with my arm being pretty live for all tall I am.

“So, I’ve always kind of been like, ‘Why isn’t my serve bigger?’ So, we’ve had to figure out certain ways to kind of tap into that. And, yeah, I don’t know. It’s worked, I guess.”

As she closes in on a second straight Charleston crown, Pegula emphasized experience as a resource.

“I definitely try to use my experience, and I think that is something that can’t necessarily be taught. That’s something that you have to go through, and I’ve definitely gone through a lot and gained so much experience and try to use it as a confidence boost, not so much as a negative thing.”