Seven Russians qualify for the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinals

Svetlana Kuznetsova (Bruno Girin, Wikimedia Commons)

It has been a remarkable week in Russian women’s tennis. According to Yahoo! Sports on Thursday, for the first time ever seven Russian women qualified for the quarterfinals of a single WTA tournament. The seven Russian players to advance to the final eight of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy were first-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, second-seed Veronika Kudermetova, fourth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, eighth-seed Daria Kasatkina, qualifier Anastasia Gasanova, and wildcards Margarita Gasparyan and Vera Zvonareva.

In the quarters, there were three all-Russian battles. Gasparyan upset  Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5; Zvonareva defeated Gasanova 6-3, 6-1; and Kasatkina defeated Kudermetova 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Kuznetsova meanwhile beat the only other non-Russian left in the draw, Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3. In the semifinals, Kuznetsova is playing Kasatkina and Zvonareva is playing Gasparyan.

The last time seven women’s tennis players from one country qualified for the quarterfinals of a single WTA event was the 1993 Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California. There, seven Americans made the quarterfinals. They were Martina Navratilova, Zina Garrison, Mary Joe Fernandez, Lori McNeil, Anna Grossman, Caroline Kuhlman, and Lindsey Davenport. Navratilova beat Garrison 6-2, 7-6 in the final.

One difference between the 2021 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the 1993 Bank of the West Classic however, is the fact that of the eight Americans who qualified for the quarterfinals in Oakland 28 years ago, only six were American-born. Navratilova was born in Czechoslovakia before becoming an American citizen in 1981, while Fernandez was born in the Dominican Republic. All eight Russians who qualified for the St. Petersburg Ladies quarterfinals were Russian-born.

It has also been a successful weekend in men’s Russian tennis. On Friday, there was an all-Russian semi-final at the Dubai Tennis Championship. Aslan Karatsev defeated Andrey Rublev 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. It has been a great 2021 tennis season for Karatsev, as he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in February as an unseeded player.

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