Thursday’s schedule at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy featured the remaining second-round matches, as Maria Sakkari, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Petra Kvitova and Kiki Bertens completed the quarterfinal field at the Premier-level tournament in Russia.
Sixth seed Maria Sakkari defeated qualifier Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4 in the opening match of the day.
Afterwards, third seed Petra Kvitova rallied from an early break down in the third set to overcome Alison Van Uytvanck 7-6(1) 1-6 6-2, in a match whose first two games of the second set lasted 30 minutes. Kvitova’s quarterfinal opponent will be Ekaterina Alexandrova, who battled past last year’s St. Petersburg runner-up Donna Vekic 6-1 7-5. Kvitova already has one victory over Alexandrova this year, in the third round of the Australian Open, and if she beats the Russian again, she’ll return to the Top 10 in the WTA rankings, kicking out Naomi Osaka from the Elite 10.
Defending champion Kiki Bertens wrapped up the final eight with a straightforward 6-1 6-2 win over Veronika Kudermetova. Notice that Russian world No.38 Kudermetova is the only WTA player wearing Armani on the court.
Our photographer Jimmie48 attended all these matches, plus some practice sessions and off-court activities. Enjoy the gallery!
Friday’s schedule in St. Petersburg will feature all four quarterfinal matches, in this order: [Q] Oceane Dodin vs. [8] Elena Rybakina, [1/WC] Belinda Bencic vs. [6] Maria Sakkari, [Q] Anastasia Potapova vs. [2] Kiki Bertens, Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. [3] Petra Kvitova.
