Maria Sakkari and Belinda Bencic advance to St. Petersburg quarterfinals

Maria Sakkari and Belinda Bencic breezed past their opponents in St. Peterbusrg securing quarterfinal spots.

The first to step out on the courts was Maria Sakkari as the Greek took on native Ekaterina Alexandrova. The Russian is a capable tennis player who can hit the ball really well. Today was not her day and she wasn't hitting it as well which is why Sakkari had a rather easy job moving past her. The Russian did resist for a while but the Greek player found ways.

The first set was dominated by Sakkari as she dropped only a few points not allowing a single break point. She converted to for a 6-2 finish. In the 2nd set, Alexandrova stepped up a little bit but she was still unable to force a single break point. Sakkari wrapped up the match with 6-4.

A bit more resistance was seen in the 2nd match where Belinda Bencic faced Slovenian Kaja Juvan. Bencic was superb early on catching Juvan off guard with some tremendous ball striking. The Slovenian failed to replicate the same level from the baseline and found herself quite overwhelmed. The score was 6-1 at the end of the first set.

The 2nd set saw Juvan step up her play with Bencic dipping a bit. After some initial slow games, Bencic played one bad one and Juvan was able to take a 4-2 lead but she did not hold it for too long. Bencic battled back and we reached the tiebreak where the Swiss player dominated. It was 7-2 and a solid win for the Olympic gold medallist.