Top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece advanced to the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sakkari, who never faced a break point in the 75-minute match, will meet No. 8 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium in the round of eight. Mertens outlasted Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in her second-round match.
No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia extended her indoor winning streak to 17 matches with a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Sorana Cirstea of Romania.
Kontaveit’s next opponent will be No. 5 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, a 6-1, 7-6 (2) winner over Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan.
No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win against Russian qualifier Varvara Gracheva in 57 minutes in a first-round match.
–Field Level Media