No. 1 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece saved 12 of 14 break points to win a lengthy 6-4, 6-4 decision over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova on Tuesday in first-round action at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sakkari, ranked seventh in the world, trailed during both sets. She fell behind 3-0 in the first set before storming back and was losing 4-3 in the second before winning the final three games.
Two other seeded players also won Tuesday.
Sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic cruised past German Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-1, and seventh-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia needed only 63 minutes to beat China’s Xinyu Wang 6-1, 6-4.
Petra Martic of Croatia, meanwhile, went the distance and needed two hours and 41 minutes to knock off Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Martic held a 13-0 advantage in aces for the match, but Rakhimova stayed in the fight by saving 12 of 15 break points.
Romanian players went 3-for-3 Tuesday as Irina-Camelia Begu, Sorana Cirstea and Jaqueline Cristian all won. Also advancing were Kaja Juvan of Slovenia, Tereza Martincova of Czech Republic, Andrea Petkovic of Germany and Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.
–Field Level Media