St. Petersburg (AFP)
Last French representative, Océane Dodin was eliminated Friday in the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Saint Petersburg by Kazakhe Elena Rybakina, victorious 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2.
Taken by surprise from Britain's Johanna Konta (14th in the world) in the previous round, Océane Dodin (159th) jostled Kazakhe (25th) for almost two hours before yielding to the No. 8 seeded player in the tournament.
In a match marked by numerous double faults, the Frenchwoman repeatedly took the service of her opponent and even obtained two match balls at 5-4 in the second set.
"The match was very complicated, I'm very happy to have won it," said Elena Rybakina: "On match balls, I didn't think I could lose. I tried not to think about the score, I only thought about each point. "
Rybakina will face in the semi-final the Greek Maria Sakkari, who defeated Friday 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 the Swiss Belinda Bencic (5th).
The other encounter in the last four will pit Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, who benefited from the package of Czech Petra Kvitova (11th), to the Dutch Kiki Bertens, who fell 6-4, 7-6 (3) from another local, Anastasia Potapova (101st).
In 2019, it was precisely Bertens who lifted the trophy in Saint Petersburg.
© 2020 AFP