After Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva and Ekaterina Alexandrova reached the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinals on Wednesday, the next day was even more successful for home players, as they won all the four second-round matches on Thursday’s schedule. This means that seven Russians are in St. Petersburg quarterfinals, the highest number in WTA history. Romanian qualifier Jaqueline Cristian is the sole representative of another country.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Katerina Siniakova were the only two non-Russian players in Thursday’s action, while even they have close ties with Russia. Sasnovich is from Belarus, while Siniakova speaks fluent Russian as her father is Russian.