Sakkari and Rybakina through to semi-finals at St Petersburg Ladies Trophy 2020

Semi-finalists are confirmed at the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy with Maria Sakkari and Elena Rybakina both through after brilliant victories.

Sakkari was probably the most impressive as she edged past top seed Belinda Bencic to pick up her third Top 5 win of her career.

The World No.21 fought back from a set down to upset the Swiss ace in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. She produced more winners than Bencic hitting 20 to 13; also had fewer unforced errors than the World No.5 with 17 compared to 20.

She will now square off against the eighth seed Rybakina; who defeated Oceane Dodin in three sets in the earlier Quarter-Final.

The World No.25 had a tough test though and had to come from the brink of elimination to defeat the French qualifier in a 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 victory where she had to save two match points in order to book her place in the final four.

Rybakina was one point away from defeat at one point as the World No.159 had opportunities to score her fifth victory of the week after previously upsetting Johanna Konta. However, the former claimed seven straight games from that scare and eased through from there.

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