The WTA St Petersburg Ladies Trophy continues to give us tennis of the highest quality. The tournaments top seeds keep on winning which means we should see some great matches in the coming days. Headlining Thursday’s action are the likes of Petra Kvitova and former champion Jelena Ostapenko. We take a look at how all those involved in Thursday’s matches should fair in this set of WTA St Petersburg predictions.
WTA St Petersburg Ladies Trophy Day 4 predictions
Elena Rybakina vs Tereza Martincova
Head-to-head: 1 – 0 Rybakina
Rybakina was superb in her last match against Gracheva. The Kazakh will face stiffer competition here though in the form of Martincova. The Czech enjoyed a career year last year and her aggressive game suits the conditions here. However, she was less than convincing against Zvonareva and the Russian didn’t serve particularly well either. Rybakina has more to offer off the ground and a better serve so I don’t see Martincova giving her much trouble here.
Prediction: Rybakina in 2
Jaqueline Cristian vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Head-to-head: First meeting
This should be a cracking match. Both Cristian and Sasnovich aren’t afraid to go for their shots on a regular basis. Both are also in great form after strong 2021 seasons. Sasnovich has done more on the WTA Tour, but I think the power game Cristian has means she actually has a higher ceiling than the Belarusian. The Romanian hits the ball clean and hard off both wings and rarely takes her foot off the gas. If she can serve decently in this match she should be able to edge it, though I expect it will be a tight affair.
Prediction: Cristian in 3
Jelena Ostapenko vs Andrea Petkovic
Head-to-head: 2 – 2
Ostapenko is a former champion here which lends her an instant advantage when trying to call this match. She also seems to have gone some way towards effectively directing her immense power. She still suffers from occasional bouts of inconsistency but they are less common and prolonged than in previous years. The Latvian’s best level won her a Grand Slam so I think it’s fair to say anything near that level gets her a win here.Petkovic scored a good win in her first match here, but the German can’t live with Ostapenko in full flow. The match is on the Latvian’s racket and as we know I seldom pick against that person. This time is no different.
Prediction: Ostapenko in 2
Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu
Head-to-head: 5 – 0
Similar to the Kontaveit/Cirstea encounter in the last round, the head-to-head here makes this an easy call. The call is made even easier by the fact we saw the Kvitova of old in her last match. The Czech dropped just three games on her way to dispatching Niemeier in straight sets. She has also only dropped one set to Begu across five meetings. With that in mind, it is hard to see any outcome other than another Kvitova display of ball striking excellence resulting in a second win in St Petersburg.
Prediction: Kvitova in 2
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