Damien Kayat takes a look at two of the quarter-finals coming our way from the St Petersburg Ladies’ Open.
Vera Zvonareva 19/20 | Daria Kasatkina 15/20
Daria Kasatkina’s attempts to usurp Maria Sharapova’s position as Russia’s favourite tennis starlet has taken quite a hit at the start of 2019. Three successive opening round defeats- including that pivotal Aussie Open exit- could have seriously derailed her. But she has bounced back nicely in her home country, actually accounting for Maria Sharapova last time out. Symbolic power aside, it signalled that the young Russian is once again ready to fulfil her massive potential. She reached the semi-finals here last year prior to a run to the final in Dubai. That all preceded a brilliant semi-final showing in a stacked Indian Wells event. So she certainly has the capacity to win on the biggest stages. Next, she will once again have to take down an infinitely more experienced Russian player: Vera Zvonareva.
34-year-old Vera Zvonareva is a player who has managed time and time again to come back from career-threatening injuries. The sum total of those injuries – coupled with her hiatus due to motherhood- have probably contributed to a career that never quite realized her massive potential. Having said all that, Zvonareva is a two-time Grand Slam finalist. She reached the Wimbledon and US Open Final in 2010. She is also a two-time Aussie Open semi-finalist and Olympic Bronze Medallist. 2018 was once again another season of comeback for the evergreen Russian. She won the Moscow Double’s Open, picking up yet another WTA title. That precipitated a mini-resurgence in singles, culminating in a semi-final showing at the Shenzhen Open. She will be buoyed by home conditions and will hope her experience pays dividends.
This will actually be the first time that these two will have met. I think there’s always a bit of value for the unfancied opponent in these scenarios. That coupled with Kasatkina’s early season form makes the experienced Zvonareva an attractive proposition at 19/20.
Petra Kvitova 1/4 | Donna Vekic 5/2
You have to admire Petra Kvitova for honouring her commitments and actually competing in St Petersburg this week. The defending champions would have been fully justified in choosing to eschew the event in light of her heart-breaking Australian Open Final defeat to Naomi Osaka. Kvitova came out Melbourne safe in the knowledge that she can once again challenge on the very grandest stage. When it comes to the in-between events: she has eaten them up for breakfast over the last 12 months. In addition to her title in St Petersburg, she has claimed victories in places as far-flung as Qatar, Prague, Madrid, Birmingham and Sydney. She is in blistering form of late, but one does wonder whether her Melbourne exertions could exact a mental and physical toll in the latter stages of this event.
Donna Vekic is a player who has certainly failed to realise her potential thus far. Off-court events have perhaps been a slight distraction to the talented Croatian in recent times. She has looked decent in St Petersburg, accounting for Kudermetova and Bacsinszky in fairly serene fashion. Last year was really quite flat for Vekic, despite some expectedly decent results on grass. She reached her first Grand Slam Fourth Round at Wimbledon after a semi-final appearance in Nottingham. But the rest of the year went slightly low-key, though she did pick up a surprise semi-final run on the Washington hardcourts. That seemed to spark a late-season revival, with yet another semi-final run at the Pan Pacific Open. She reached the semi-finals in Brisbane prior to Melbourne, which means that she has some form in her locker at present.
This will only be their second meeting, the first of which was won by Kvitova way back in 2014. While there will be some legitimate concerns over Kvtiova’s engine, I still think that she should dominate her Croatian opponent this week. Kvitova’s real magic of late seems to be her ability to replicate her best tennis on every stage, even the slightly less glamorous ones. Kvitova to win in straight sets at 15/20.
