Caroline Wozniacki and Monica Niculescu were the only two seeds that didn’t survive day four at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, while top seed Belinda Bencic defeated Annika Beck in two sets.

Kasatkina Into the Quarterfinals

18-year-old Daria Kasatkina advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-4. Siegemund played a very solid match against seventh seed Kristina Mladenovic in her first round match, but that spark was not there in her second round match. Kasatkina broke Siegemund in five out of nine opportunities. The Russian was leading 5-1 in the first set, but couldn’t close the set after having four set points. Siegemund recovered one of the two breaks, and had two break chances more to come back into the set, but on her second attempt the Russian wrapped it up. In the second set, the Russian was leading 3-2, but a break from the German leveled things up 3-3, but Kasatkina broke back immediately and held to lead 5-3. Daria Kasatkina needed just one match point to win her second round match. She will now face Dominika Cibulkova.

Photo: St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy Official Website

Kateryna Kozlova Wins in Three

It was a battle that lasted almost two hours. Qualifier, Kateryna Kozlova stunned Russia’s Elena Vesnina in a thrilling match. Vesnina dominated the first set, needing only two breaks to grab the first set 6-2. Kozlova couldn’t manage to even get a break point of the Russian break in the first set. However, that changed at the start of the second when they exchange breaks before Kozlova broke for the second time in the match after a backhand error from Vesnina. At 4-2, the Russian broke to be 4-3 and serve to level the match, but the Ukrainian broke right away and served for the second set, which she would go on to win 6-3. It was a set of solid tennis for Kozlova in the deciding set as she managed to convert three out of four break points. Vesnina only broke the Ukranian once in the third set, which was the only break point she got, but it wasn’t enough to stop Kozlova who won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. In the quarterfinals she will play fourth seed Ana Ivanovic.

Wozniacki Loses Her Opening Match in Straight Sets to Cibulkova

It’s been a tough start of the year for the former world number one Caroline Wozniacki. After losing in the first round of the Australian Open, she came to St. Petersburg hoping to capture the title but her run came to an insurmountable roadblock in her opening match against 2014 Australian Open finalist. Dominika Cibulkova. Yesterday, the Slovak won a comfortable match against Evgeniya Rodina and was expecting a tough match today. Cibulkova stepped into the court attacking the weak serve of the Danish and hitting winners that were placed at a very uncomfortable angle for Wozniacki to return. It took Cibulkova just one break to grab the first set 6-4. It was a bad set of tennis for the Dane as she only won three out of eleven points with her second serve. The second set was looking a bit better for Wozniacki who managed to hold her serve for three games, but at 3-3, the Dane couldn’t save a break point and Cibulkova gained the lead in the second set. The Slovak would had two match points on Wozniacki’s serve, but she saved them and now it was on Cibulkova’s serve to close the match. The fourth seed made an attempt to come back to the match as she broke right away, but it was for nothing as she lost her serve in the next game. In her second chance to close the match, Cibulkova had to fight to save her serve and after three match points she completed the upset 6-4, 7-5.

Photo: St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy Official Website

Bencic Through to Last Eight in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is an exciting tournament for Belinda Bencic as this is the first time she is the number one seed. In her first match of the week, Bencic didn’t disappoint and is into the quarterfinals after a straight sets win over Annika Beck. It was a very unstable first set from both players as they struggled to keep their serves, as shown by the eight breaks in the set. It was a matter of who could hold to win the opening set that would be decided on a tiebreak. The Swiss lead 4-1 in the tiebreak when Beck started to show signs of life and tried to come back but in the end, the number one seed was just too strong, winning the following three points to take the first set. Both players increased their first serve stats in the second set, but it was Bencic the first one to get a break that gave her the lead. Bencic broke once more at 4-2, but it was the German who recovered one of the two breaks against her as she was serving for the match. The last break of the match handed the victory to Belinda Bencic after one hour and 41 minutes 7-6(3), 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Bencic will play the fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Pavlyuchenkova advances to quarterfinals, Niculescu out.

Today also featured seeds number five and nine, but only one of them made it through the next round.

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won an easy 6-1 first set against Carina Witthoeft in under 30 minutes. The Russian didn’t face any trouble with her serve and broke comfortably on three occasions. The German started to play better in the second set, winning 71% of her first serve points which helped her to avoid facing a break point until the sixth game when the Russian got the first break of the set, but her lead didn’t last long as Witthoeft broke right back. Pavlyuchenkova had to save two break points in the ninth game of the set, but did so before the second break for the Russian came at the perfect time as she broke to win the match 6-1, 7-5.

Ninth seed Monica Niculescu couldn’t win her match today as she lost against Timea Babos in three sets. After losing her serve at the early stages of the set, the Hungarian would fight back to break the Romanian two times in a row to win a lead of 5-4 that later would give her the first set after her she won her serve. Niculescu rose from a set down to win the second set 6-1. Losing her serve in the first game of the decider wasn’t the best for Niculescu, who fought hard to come back into the match. She managed to break the Hungarian twice, but was never able to hold her serve after regaining parity at 3-3 in the decider. It took Babos two match points but at the second time of asking, the Hungarian grabbed the win 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. She will play second seed Roberta Vinci for a spot in the semifinals.

Doubles Results

Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja advanced to the semifinals after defeating Elena Bogdan and Ilona Kremen 7-5, 6-2.

After losing their singles matches, Laura Siegemund and Monica Niculescu retired against Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova, consequently handing the Russian-Czech pair a 4-2 victory.

Second seeds, Andrea Hlavackova, and Lucie Hradecka won in straight sets against Ivakhnenko and Marozava.

It was a tight battle for the number one seeds, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza who won over Jelena Ostapenko and Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 7-5.

Photo: St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy Official Website

Day Five Order of Play

Sibur Arena - Noon

Timea Babos - [2] Roberta Vinci

[Q] Kateryna Kozlova - [4] Ana Ivanovic

Vera Dushevia / Barbora Krejcikova - [2] Andrea Hlavackova / Lucie Hradecka

Sibur Arena - Not before 5:30 pm

Dominika Cibulkova - Daria Kasatkina

[1] Belinda Bencic - [5] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

[2] Martina Hingis / Sania Mirza - Daria Kasatkina - Elena Vesnina

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Liliana Martinez
Sports Journalist from Mexico City