Maria Sakkari vs. Elena Rybakina 2/15/20 - St Petersburg Open Tennis Picks & Predictions
Last Updated: 02/14/2020 at 1:30 PM ET
In the semifinals of the 2020 WTA St Petersburg Open, Elena Rybakina is set to play against Maria Sakkari from Greece.
Elena Rybakina has been in tremendous form in 2020 and she has shown that in this tournament. In the previous round, Rybakina defeated Oceane Dodin in 3 sets. Elena Rybakina lost the opening set via a tiebreaker but she fought back strongly to win the final 2 sets and the match. During the win, Elena Rybakina impressed with her receiving as she won over 40% of her receiving points which allowed her to break her opponent’s serve on 5 occasions. 2020 has been a tremendous year for Elena Rybakina as she has already made 2 finals. Elena Rybakina won the Hobart International and finished 2nd at the Shenzhen Open. This should be a tougher match for Elena Rybakina but she will be confident considering her recent form.
On the other side of the coin, Maria Sakkari enters this match having defeated Belinda Bencic in straight sets in the previous round. It was a solid performance with Sakkari winning 71% of her service games and 4 return games. Maria Sakkari is a tremendous player but she has not been at her best in 2020 and that has been evident by her recent tournament results. This should be a challenging match for Maria Sakkari as she is playing a confident opponent in Elena Rybakina.
This will be the first time that Elena Rybakina and Maria Sakkari will be playing each other at a WTA tournament.
Maria Sakkari is an outstanding player but I see her losing this match. 2020 has been a modest season for Sakkari and she doesn’t seem to be at her best. In contrast, Elena Rybakina has been phenomenal. Elena Rybakina is playing with huge amounts of confidence and I see her having the edge required to beat Maria Sakkari. I see Elena Rybakina winning in 3 sets.
