Maria Sakkari, Elena Rybakina, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Kiki Bertens are through to the last eight after Friday’s quarterfinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova received a walkover when third seed Petra Kvitova pulled out of competition because of illness that started affected her during yesterday’s second round. The 28th-ranked Alexandrova will play second-seeded defending champion Kiki Bertens in the semifinals, as the Dutch recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the second set and saved three set points to advance with a 6-4 7-6(3) victory over Russian qualifier Anastasia Potapova.
Kazakh world No.25 and eighth seed Elena Rybakina reached her third semifinal in four tournaments played this season, hitting 15 aces and saving two match points in the second set to overcome qualifier Oceane Dodin 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2. Her semifinal opponent will be sixth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece, who capitalized on Belinda Bencic‘s unforced errors to battle back from a set and a break down and eliminate the top seed 2-6 6-4 6-3.
This was our photographer Jimmie48‘s last day at the tournament in St. Petersburg. He now heads to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, as the world is eagerly awaiting the comeback of Kim Clijsters.
