St. Petersburg 2020: Friday's Order of Play & Match Points

ORDER OF PLAY

SIBUR ARENA -- 1:00 p.m. start 

[Q] Oceane DODIN (FRA) vs. [8] Elena RYBAKINA (KAZ)

[1/WC] Belinda BENCIC (SUI) vs. [6] Maria SAKKARI (GRE)

Not before 3:30 p.m.
[Q] Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS) vs. [2] Kiki BERTENS (NED)

Not before 6:30 p.m.
Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS) vs. [3] Petra KVITOVA (CZE)

After suitable rest
[1] Shuko AOYAMA (JPN) / Ena SHIBAHARA (JPN) vs. [4] Hayley CARTER (USA) / Sharon FICHMAN (CAN)

MATCH POINTS

Top seed Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari will face off for the first time at a WTA event. 2016 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy runner-up Bencic is back in the main draw of the event for the first time since 2017. She holds a 4-2 main-draw win-loss record overall at the tournament.

Sakkari is into her first quarterfinal of the season, and seeks the third Top 5 win of her career against Bencic (Sakkari is currently 2-6 vs. the Top 5 overall). At both of her previous St. Petersburg showings, in 2018 and 2019, Sakkari fell in the first round -- both times to Julia Goerges. 

Defending champion Kiki Bertens will square off against Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova for the first time. After dropping her first two matches at the event (first-round losses in 2017 and 2018), Bertens now has a five-match winning streak rolling at St. Petersburg.

Read more: Bertens breezes into St. Petersburg quarterfinals with Kudermetova win

Bertens is attempting to defend a singles title for the second time in her career. The Dutchwoman won back-to-back titles at Nurnberg in 2016 and 2017.

2018 champion Petra Kvitova takes a 1-0 head-to-head advantage into her quarterfinal against Russian No.1 Ekaterina Alexandrova. The two faced off in the third round of the Australian Open last month, where Kvitova notched a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Kvitova's win-loss record at St. Petersburg is now up to 7-1 after her Wednesday win over Alison van Uytvanck. The Czech's only loss at the tournament to date is a quarterfinal defeat to eventual finalist Donna Vekic last year.

Read more: Dodin outdoes Konta in St. Petersburg upset

Elena Rybakina and qualifier Oceane Dodin will meet for the first time. 20-year-old Rybakina has risen over 150 spots over the last year and is now ranked World No.25. Meanwhile, former Top 50 player Dodin has risen from World No.332 to No.159 over the past 52 weeks, as she continues a comeback from health issues, including vertigo.