While one of the strongest WTA events of the entire year is taking place in Stuttgart at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix this week, the 500 event in Baden-Württemberg will also be played in Istanbul, Turkey. The field of participants on the Bosporus is not quite as exquisite as in Stuttgart, but the final encounter is quite impressive.

Because with Elise Mertens and Sorana Cirstea, two women who are known not only to tennis insiders will duel for the title on Sunday. The top-seeded Belgian is currently at number 17 in the world rankings, her Romanian final opponent is currently only at position 67, but has already reached the round of 16 in every Grand Slam tournament and was in 2013 at number 21 in the WTA charts.

In Istanbul, the 31-year-old sometimes reminded of old times, as she reached the final of the clay court tournament without losing a set. In the semifinals, Cirstea beat the 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk 6: 4 and 6: 4. Mertens made it into the final even more confidently: She didn't give Veronika Kudermetova a chance in the 6: 1 and 6: 4 success.

The single tableau in Istanbul