WTA St. Petersburg: Donna Vekic tops Petra Kvitova. Sabalenka wins

Instead of taking well-deserved rest after a great Australian Open run that almost brought her the title, Petra Kvitova decided to enter St. Petersburg event as the top seed, winning the opening match but falling to Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-1 in the quarters today.

Playing against each other for the first time in almost five years, the Croat saved three out of four break points and won half of the return points to create nine break chances and convert four, enough to propel her over the finish line.

Petra served at only 48% and she never found her rhythm in the second part of the match, spraying too many errors and suffering three breaks in a row to hit the exit door. They traded breaks in the opening two games of the match and we saw six good holds on both sides after that, staying neck and neck until 4-4.

Petra sent an easy forehand wide in the ninth game to get broken, with Vekic fending off a break point in the following game before closing the set after a poor slice from Kvitova. Donna was the only player on the court in set number two and she crossed the finish line with a third straight break at 5-1 after a loose backhand from Kvitova, setting the semi-final clash against Vera Zvonareva.

A former world no. 2 is playing another great tournament on her comeback trail, ousting the 3rd seed Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-6 in an hour and 47 minutes to secure the place in the semis and make a return into the top-80 after many years.

This was the fourth straight loss of the season for Daria (Maria Sharapova gave her a walkover in the second round), serving like a junior and offering 12 break points to more experienced rival. Even though she lost serve four times, Vera converted five break points and despite some setbacks in the closing stages of the second set she stayed focused to bring the win home in the tie break.

Zvonareva broke twice in the opening set for a 6-3 and she served for the match twice in the second set at 5-4 and 6-5, suffering a break on both occasions to keep Daria in before winning the tie break 7-3 to march into the semis.

The 2nd seed Kiki Bertens lost just seven points on serve in the first and third sets against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, scoring a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 win to stay on the title course. <table