Bertens, Rybakina set up final clash at Ladies Trophy in St. Petersburg

Kiki Bertens and Elena Rybakina both successfully handled their three-set semifinal matches to set up the final clash in St. Petersburg.

Maria Sakkari, Elena Rybakina, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Kiki Bertens were all of the players involved in semifinal battles in St. Petersburg. Only two could reach the final but all of them fought exceptionally as both semifinal matches at Ladies Trophy reached the third set.

Rybakina and Sakkari opened the day in St. Petersburg. The 6th seeded Greek started the match with a 6-3 victory in the first set. Sakkari managed to win 11 points in a row at the end of the set to gain the lead.

Sakkari was leading already 5-4 in the second set, however, then Rybakina showed her best tennis. World number 25 in the WTA Ranking managed to win 9 out of the following 10 games to secure the spot in the final. It is the third final for Rybakina this year when she first lost to Alexandrova in Shenzhen and then defeated Zhang in Hobart.

And it was Alexandrova who could have aimed for the second title this year as well in a rematch against Rybakina. However, the Russian did not open the match against Bertens ideally when she lost the first set 1-6.

But the support from the home crowd led Alexandrova to turn the second set from being 0-2 down. After losing 8 out of the 9 opening games, Alexandrova managed to win the second set 6-4. However, Bertens showed the best tennis in the third set again and managed to win it 6-1 to set up the final against Rybakina at Ladies Trophy in St. Petersburg.