WTA St. Petersburg: Maria Sakkari and Anett Kontaveit lead the field
After a one-week break, the WTA tour continues on Monday with the indoor hard court event in St. Petersburg.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Feb 06, 2022, 05:15 pm
Women's tennis fans had a week to recover from Ashleigh Barty's historic Australian Open triumph. From Monday the WTA professionals will continue in northern Russia - more precisely in St. Petersburg, where a WTA Tour 500 tournament will take place. The indoor hard court event is endowed with 703,580 US dollars and takes place in the Sibur Arena, which also hosts the annual ATP tournament in autumn.
At least six local heroes will be in the main draw in the metropolis of five million: Anastasia Potapova has to play the top seeded Greek Maria Sakkari in round one. If last year's semi-finalist from Roland Garros and the US Open remains victorious, Ekaterina Alexandrova could again be a local athlete in the round of 16.
Andrea Petkovic for Germany at the start
Kamilla Rakhimova meets Croatia's Petra Martic, while experienced Vera Zvonareva takes on Czech Tereza Martincova. Veronika Kudermetova also had a hard time with Belinda Bencic from Switzerland. The best cards from a Russian point of view probably have Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked fourth, who competes with the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian at the start.
With the Estonian Anett Kontaveit there is another top 10 player in St. Petersburg. The number two of the tournament opens against Jil Teichman from Switzerland. Germany is represented in north-eastern Europe in the person of Andrea Petkovic. The 34-year-old has to face a qualifier in round one.