American power player CoCo Vandeweghe is into her first career clay court final after cruising past Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-2 in Stuttgart today.

“I’m getting more harassment from all my friends,” Vandeweghe said of her newfound clay success. “Jenni Brady has texted me saying some nonsense, Vicky Duval has sent some nonsense, an old hitting partner of mine from Poland texted me, ‘Oh man, you’ve got to change your schedule …

Down an early break in his Barcelona semifinal, Rafael Nadal revved up his game and rolled to an easy win over David Goffin. The 6-4, 6-0 victory was Rafa’s 400th of his career and clay, and improved his win streak on his favorite surface to 18 and upped his incredible set streak to 44.

“Very happy,” Nadal said. “I played I think my best match of the tournament so far, no …

BMW OPEN BY FWU
MUNICH, Germany; surface: clay

Alexander Zverev attempts to defend his title next week in Munich, where Roberto Bautista Agut, Diego Schwartzman, former champ Philipp Kohlschreiber and Gael Monfils are among the seeds.

Seeds: Alexander Zverev, Roberto Bautista Agut, Diego Schwartzman, Chung Hyeon, Fabio Fognini, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Gael Monfils, Yuichi Sugita

Floaters: Mirza Basic, Ivo Karlovic

Notes:

Zverev the lone Top 10 player in the field, and four others from the Top 20…

The …

TEB BNP PARIBAS ISTANBUL OPEN
ISTANBUL, Turkey; surface: clay

Seeds: Marin Cilic, Damir Dzumhur, Andreas Seppi, Aljaz Bedene, Paolo Lorenzi, Viktor Troicki, Jiri Vesely, Nikoloz Basilashvili

Floaters: (WC) Bernard Tomic, Jeremy Chardy

Notes:

The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…The Top 10 Cilic is the lone Top 30-ranked player in the field…

Openers of interest include (6) Troicki vs. (WC) Tomic on the Australian’s worst surface, and (8) Basilashvili vs. Chardy…

In addition to Tomic, wildcards went …

Former Roland Garros finalist and German comeback player Laura Siegemund are among the disrupters next week in Morocco, where Elise Mertens leads the seeds.

Former Rabat champion Timea Bacsinszky is in the field, along with former Top 10er Dominika Cibulkova.

GRAND PRIX DE SAR LA PRINCESSE LALLA MERYEM
RABAT, Morocco; surface: hard

Seeds: Elise Mertens, Dominika Cibulkova, Petra Martic, Timea Babos, Timea Bacsinszky, Zarina Diyas, Aleksandra Krunic, Hsieh Su-wei

Floaters: Laura Siegemund, Sara Errani, Kirsten …

Two Top 10 players in the J&T Banka Prague Open field are led by former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, who is coming off reaching the final at Stuttgart, and in Prague will open against her twin sister Kristyna.

The lower-ranked Pliskova knows how to beat her sister, winning half of their eight encounters, but they haven’t faced each other since 2012.

J&T BANKA PRAGUE OPEN
PRAGUE, Czech Republic; surface: clay

Seeds: Karolina Pliskova, Petra …

It was a tough day for the top seeds in the Stuttgart quarterfinals. American slugger CoCo Vandeweghe led the way hammering World No. 1 Simona Halep 6-4, 6-1.

“It’s always something special when you beat a World No.1, no matter what stage it is, what venue,” said Vandeweghe who has won her last three over No. 1s. “To get a victory over a World No.1 it’s a certain pedigree and you …

Rafael Nadal’s set streak nearly came to an end Friday in Barcelona. Facing Martin Klizan – who upset Novak Djokovic earlier in the week – Nadal found himself down in the second as Klizan served for it. But Rafa swatted aside three set points and took the match 6-2, 7-5.

“I started well,” Nadal said. “He made mistakes, especially with his backhand and to be honest, I felt very good. Then, …

Rafael Nadal upped his clay win streak to 16 and his set streak on dirt to 40 after pounding countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3 in the third round at the Barcelona Open.

“I am in a good dynamic,” Nadal said. “And it is normal that after last week in Montecarlo I fell a bit, but I think today I played better than yesterday, although after the match with Roberto Carballes I …

Many of the top names hit the court for their 2018 clay debuts in Stuttgart Wednesday, and the results were mixed.

In a battle of former Grand Slam champions, home hero Angelique Kerber upended Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2. Kvitova, who was the seeded player of the two, had beaten Kerber over the weekend in Fed Cup.

“I knew what to expect,” said Kerber. “We played three days ago and I know how …

Rafael Nadal kept it rolling in his opening match in Barcelona today. Seeking an 11th Barcelona title, Nadal picked up his 15th straight win on clay after dismissing countryman Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal has now won a record 38 straight sets on the surface and in Barcelona, has won recorded a 54-3 mark.

Meanwhile, Nadal’s (former) rival Novak Djokovic was stunned by the 140th-ranked qualifier Martin Klizan 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. …

With his 11th Monte Carlo title yesterday, Rafael Nadal took sole possession of the most Masters titles in history, passing Novak Djokovic with 31.

Nadal also has amassed 76 career titles including a record 54 on clay.

“I always repeat the same,” Nadal said. “My true feeling is these kind of things not going to happen forever, so just try to enjoy and to play with the full passion and with …

It’s been a strange year for Rafael Nadal.

He’s No. 1 on the ATP rankings even though it’s late April and he’s only played two tournaments. Roger Federer is sitting out the claycourt season. Novak Djokovic is injured — or not injured if you ask him — but he’s not winning. Stan Wawrinka is injured.

None of the ATP “Next Gen” are stepping up to challenge the old guard, and we …

A blockbuster Fed Cup final was booked over the weekend when the defending-champion Americans went into France and took away a win on the red clay, and a dominant Czech Republic team did the same in Germany.

Now both teams will look forward to the November final when the U.S. squad could potentially pull a Williams sister or two into their line-up.

CZECH REPUBLIC d. GERMANY 4-1

Even on the German red clay …

There seems to be no man capable of stopping Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard rolled into yet another Monte Carlo final, winning 8 of the last 9 games to dismiss Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-1.

“I think I played solid,” said Nadal. “It had been a very hard first set until the 4-all. A lot of tough games. Yes, I made a big mistake at 3-1, I played a very bad game. Then …