Elina Svitolina cruises through in Thailand; Kiki Bertens impressing in St Petersburg

WTA Tour

Tennis365
February 14, 2020

Elina Svitolina made short work of qualifier Storm Sanders at the Thailand Open, steamrollering her 6-1,6-2 to march into the quarter-finals.

It took the top seed, in her first night match at the tournament, just 57 minutes to progress and she will face the eighth seed Nao Hibino for a place in the last four.

“You have to adjust because it’s very dark when you toss the ball,” Svitolina told wtatennis.com: .

“That’s pretty much the difference – but in the end I’m happy to play later because it’s cooler.”

Magda Linette joined the Ukrainian in the quarter-finals, beating Peng Shuai 7-5 6-1.

In the other last-16 matches, Patricia Tig eased past You Xiaodi and Wang Xiyu defeated Barbara Haas, both winning in straight sets.

Meanwhile, second seed Kiki Bertens did not need long to beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-1 6-2 and reach the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarter-finals.

It was a lot harder for third seed Petra Kvitova, who needed over two hours before she got the better of Alison Van Uytvanck in three sets.

After the Czech’s 7-6 (1) 1-6 6-2 victory, she said: “It was a tough one. I’ve never played Alison before.

“She’d already played one match on the surface and for me it was the first one, so that’s always a bit challenging.”

Maria Sakkari, the sixth seed at the event, triumphed against Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4, but seventh seed Donna Vekic was beaten 6-1 7-5 by Ekaterina Alexandrova.

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Elina Svitolina Kiki Bertens