Elena Rybakina vs Kiki Bertens Prediction & Betting Tips - St. Petersburg, Russia

Prediction published on 15/02/2020, 14:52  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 15/02/2020 at 15:52 in Tennis Predictions

Kiki Bertens and Elena Rybakina are the only two seeds left in this tournament. Bertens is seeded second and is looking to successfully defend the St Petersburg title she won last year beating Donna Vekic in the final. Bertens has reached four more finals since that success but her only win was in a clay court tournament held in Madrid. Bertens has made a relatively slow start to the new year and lost in the last sixteen of the Australian Open. She won both of her first two matches without dropping a set. In the semi-final, Bertens had to go to three sets to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova

Elena Rybakina started the week ranked 25th in the world but will break into the top 20 after reaching this final. Rybakina represents Khazakhstan and is in her third final this year. January saw her win the Shenzen Open and she followed that up with victory in the Hobart International. She had a tough draw in the Australian Open though, losing to world number one Ashleigh Barty in the last 32. Her first two matches in this tournament were won in straight sets. Ryabakina then had to come from behind to beat Oceane Dodin in the last eight. The same happened again in her semi-final as she dropped the first set to Maria Sakkari. They have only had one previous meeting with Bertens getting a straight sets win last year. The Dutch player can get another win here and retain her title.