As expected, the second seed Roberta Vinci will play the fourth seed Ana Ivanovic for a place in the final at the inaugural St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, played on indoor hard courts in Russia.
Recent Results
Vinci has started the year relatively well, reaching the quarterfinals at Brisbane and the third round of the Australian Open. The Italian has had to fight hard during her time in St. Petersburg thus far, winning three of five sets played in tiebreakers. After receiving a first round bye, Vinci was forced to raise her game against Yanina Wickmayer before winning 6-2, 7-6(2) and was then pushed to her limits against Timea Babos in the quarterfinals but survived, winning 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4). Despite struggling to return her opponent's huge serve, the 32-year-old capitalised on the Hungarian's nerves to recover from 3-5 down in the deciding set and 2-4 down in the tiebreak to win.
Ivanovic couldn't have started the year any worse, losing her opening matches at Auckland and Sydney. When her coach Nigel Sears collapsed in the stands during her third round match against Madison Keys at the Australian Open, the Serb was understandably distracted and lost the match in three sets. However, skipping the Fed Cup over the weekend seems to have given Ivanovic the opportunity to regroup as she's progressed smoothly this week so far. After receiving a first round bye, the 28 year old hasn't dropped a set in beating promising youngsters Margarita Gasparyan 7-5, 6-2 and qualifier Kateryna Kozlova 6-1, 7-5.
Past Experience
A winner of nine titles and a former world number 11, Vinci has been somewhat of a late bloomer. Since beating Serena Williams en route to last year's US Open final, the current world number 16 is playing with a renewed sense of self belief as she's all too aware that her career is coming to an end. Given Flavia Pennetta's unexpected success in winning last year's US Open, there's no reason for Vinci not to believe that she could end her career on a similar note.
Unlike her opponent, Ivanovic has been there and done it all before. After winning the 2008 French Open and becoming the world number one, Ivanovic had the world at her feet but struggled to handle the mental pressures that came with increased expectations. Over the past few years, the current world number twenty has seen her form fluctuate dramatically. It appeared that she had truly revived herself in 2014 when she won four of her fifteen career titles and finished the year as the world number five but has since lost her confidence once again.
Head-to-Head
Ivanovic leads the head-to-head 6-3, though they haven't played since the summer of 2013 when Ivanovic won in three sets in the quarterfinals at Carlsbad. Though the Serb has never lost a set against her opponent in three previous meetings indoors, the last time she lost to the Italian was memorable for all the wrong reasons when Vinci 'double bagelled' Ivanovic 6-0, 6-0 in the third round of the 2012 Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Vinci has a sound, compact game centred around an aggressive forehand and backhand slice. Her serve is reliable and well placed and she isn't afraid to take to the net. This pro-active approach helped her beat Williams last year and took her to the world number one doubles ranking, as well as five major titles alongside her compatriot Sara Errani. Vinci will look to outmanoeuvre Ivanovic by using her slice to the Serb's weaker backhand, pulling her out of position so that she can either come forward or hit a drop shot.
Ivanovic has to vary her returns in this match as Vinci will probably try to serve and volley at some point. As her forehand has the potential to boss the match, Ivanovic must look to dictate with it whenever possible and can ill afford to find herself playing Vinci's game.
As this is a relatively fast indoor court, both players' games are well suited to it. Ivanovic has been playing better this week so if she can remain emotionally stable, should progress as she has the bigger game.
Prediction: Ana Ivanovic in straight sets