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Top-seed Belinda Bencic stopped Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Wednesday. The Swiss player won against the Russian in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4 in one hour and 44 minutes. After her win, speaking with the press, Bencic said, “definitely had to be the aggressor, play a little bit harder shots, because obviously [Kuznetsova] tries to break your rhythm with the spins and the slices and everything.
I was prepared for that. Obviously, I still tried to make some angled shots. But I think against Svetlana, to be successful, you really need to power her, let her move, and then eventually try to hit your winner”. Bencic will play either sixth-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari or French qualifier, Alize Cornet, in the quarter-finals.
Cornet, who also opened her campaign in the event on Wednesday defeated Jelena Ostapenko in the opening round 6-1, 6-2 in 68 minutes. Sakkari and Cornet will play their second-round match on Thursday. Cornet’s fellow qualifier and compatriot Oceane Dodin caused the upset of the day with a 6-3, 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Johanna Konta of Great Britain in the round-of-16.
Dodin next plays eight seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the last-eight. Rybakina defeated Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro in their pre-quarter-final match 6-3, 6-4. Lastly, Russian qualifier Anastasia Potapova kept the host nation’s flag flying high with a straight-sets win over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
Potapova needed one hour and 33 minutes to win her second-round match 7-6(2), 6-3. She awaits the winner between the second-seeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens and Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the quarter-finals. Photo Credit: WTA Insider Twitter