Second-seeded Coco Gauff will begin her campaign at the 2026 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a second-round clash against Liudmila Samsonova. While Gauff got a bye in the first round due to her seeding, Samsonova opened her campaign with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Antonia Ružić in the Round of 32.
Match Details for Coco Gauff vs Liudmila Samsonova
Date: April 16, 2026
Tournament: Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2026 (Stuttgart Open)
Round: Round of 16
Venue: Porsche Arena, Stuttgart
Surface: Indoor clay
Category: WTA 500
Live Telecast: Tennis Channel, Sky Sports, TSN
Gauff vs Samsonova Head-to-Head
Gauff has won all her matches against Samsonova, leading 3-0 in the head-to-head. The last time they played, the American player won 6-3, 6-3 at the 2023 Citi DC Open.
Gauff has a 16-6 win-loss record this season, beginning with a quarterfinal run at the Australian Open, where she lost to Elina Svitolina, who also beat her in the semifinals in Dubai. She had early exits in Doha and Indian Wells, but came back to form at the Miami Open. She won against the likes of Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Alycia Parks, Sorana Cirstea, Belinda Bencic, and Karolina Muchova to reach the final, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets.
Samosnova’s 2026 season has not started well, with the Russian player having seven opening-round exits, including at the Australian Open and the WTA 1000 events in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, and Miami. Her best results include quarterfinal runs at Brisbane and Abu Dhabi, where she lost to Jessica Pegula and Hailey Baptiste, respectively.
Gauff vs Samsonova Prediction
This will be Gauff’s first clay-court event of the year, but the American has a terrific clay-court record. She is the reigning French Open champion, with a runner-up finish at Roland Garros in 2022. She has had runner-up finishes at the WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome last year, losing to Sabalenka and Jasmine Paolini in the respective finals.
Samsonova was in action at the Linz Open to kickstart her clay-court season, but lost to home favorite Lilli Tagger in the first round. Overall, she has reached only one clay-court final in her career, which came in Strasbourg last year, where she lost to Elena Rybakina.
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Gauff does not have a great record at Stuttgart, as she has not won more than one match at any of her previous four attempts, losing to players like Marta Kostyuk and Jasmine Paolini in the previous two editions. Samsonova, on the other hand, had one great run here, reaching the semifinal in 2022 with wins over Chloe Paquet, Karolina Pliskova, and Laura Siegemund, before she lost to Iga Świątek.
Given Samsonova’s current form and the fact that Gauff is coming on the back of a great showing in Miami, the second seed is the favorite to win the upcoming match.
Pick- Gauff to win in straight sets
