STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Top-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals on Thursday.
The top-ranked Swiatek will face next Emma Raducanu, who knocked out Linda Noskova 6-0, 7-5.
Earlier, fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina battled her way into the quarterfinals in a roller coaster 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4 victory over Veronika Kudermetova.
Rybakina managed to stave off three break points toward the end of the opening set and then took control of the tiebreaker. But her errors mounted in the second set as Kudermetova began to dominate.
Rybakina regained control in the decider and surged to 4-1 before more errors allowed Kudermetova to level. But the Kazakh player rallied again to take a tight service hold and close out the match.
She will face Jasmine Paolini after the Italian upset seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Markéta Vondroušová also reached the quarterfinals after seeing off Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-1. The Wimbledon champion has lined up second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka.
Eight of the top 10 ranked women are at the tournament, the main event in the first week of clay tournaments on the WTA Tour.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates defeating Belgium's Elise Mertens after the women's singles round of 16 tennis match at the WTA Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday April 18, 2024. (Marijan Murat/ after her victory. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Poland's Iga Swiatek plays a return to Belgium's Elise Mertens during the women's singles round of 16 tennis match at the WTA Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday April 18, 2024. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Poland's Iga Swiatek serves to Belgium's Elise Mertens during the women's singles round of 16 tennis match at the WTA Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday April 18, 2024. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates defeating Belgium's Elise Mertens after the women's singles round of 16 tennis match at the WTA Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday April 18, 2024. (Marijan Murat/ after her victory. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has secured an additional $1.8 billion worth of shares in Trump Media, according to a regulatory filing this week.
Based on the company's stock hitting certain price benchmarks, Trump was awarded an additional 36 million shares in the company that owns his social media platform Truth Social. That brings his total ownership to more than 114 million shares, which based on Wednesday morning's stock price, are worth $5.7 billion.
For now, the value of those shares is considered “paper wealth.” Trump is prohibited from selling any shares for six months after Trump Media went public without securing a waiver from the company’s board.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, now owns close to two-thirds of the company's outstanding shares.
Trump Media & Technology Group shares have surged in the past couple of weeks and closed Tuesday at $49.93. Trump only needed the stock to be above $17.50 each for 20 consecutive trading days to secure the new shares.
Trump Media got its place on the Nasdaq after merging with a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. These type of mergers offer young companies quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly.
On March 26, the first day of trading after Trump Media closed the merger with Digital World Acquisition, shares in the newly combined company reached nearly $80 each in intraday trading before closing at $57.99.
Less than a week after that flashy stock market debut, Trump Media disclosed that it lost nearly $58.2 million last year, sending its stock tumbling more than 21%. The 2023 losses marked a stark decline compared with the profit of $50.5 million that the company reported for 2022, according to a regulatory filing.
In the subsequent weeks, the company's stock tumbled to around $22 each before rebounding in mid-April.
Truth Social launched in February 2022, one year after Trump was banned from major social platforms including Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He’s since been reinstated to both but has stuck with Truth Social.
Trump Media shares fell 6.5% to $46.68 in late morning trading Wednesday.
Former President Donald Trump talks to reporters as leaves the courtroom following the day's proceedings in his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Justin Lane/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Pedestrians walk past the Nasdaq building as the stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. is displayed on screens, March 26, 2024, in New York. A Delaware judge on Tuesday, April 30, granted a request by attorneys for Donald Trump and Trump Media & Technology Group, parent company of his Truth Social platform, to slow down a lawsuit filed by two cofounders of the company. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
