St. Petersburg 2020: Final countdown

ORDER OF PLAY - 2:00 P.M. START

[1] Shuko AOYAMA (JPN) / Ena SHIBAHARA (JPN) vs. [3] Kaitlyn CHRISTIAN (USA) / Alexa GUARACHI (CHI) 

Not before 4:30 p.m.

[8] Elena RYBAKINA (KAZ) vs. [2] Kiki BERTENS (NED)

MATCH POINTS

Kiki Bertens is looking to defend a title for the second time in her career in Sunday's championship. The World No.8 won two consecutive titles at the Nurnberger Versicherungscup in 2016 and 2017, and would earn her 10th career title with the victory. 

Elena Rybakina is contesting her third final already in 2020 in four tournaments played. The Russian-born Kazakh finished runner-up at the Shenzhen Open in the first week of the season and won her second career title at the Hobart International in Tasmania prior to the Australian Open. 

Rybakina is making her second main draw appearance at St. Petersburg, having reached her maiden WTA quarterfinal on debut at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy in 2018. Ranked World No.450 and a wildcard in qualifying, she beat then-World No.7 Caroline Garcia en route for her first Top 10 victory.

Bertens is making her fourth consecutive visit to St. Petersburg this week. Having beaten Donna Vekic to win last year's title, she fell in the first round in her two previous trips, losing to Annika Beck in 2017 and Vera Zvonareva in 2018.

Bertens own a 1-0 head-to-head record against Rybakina, having beaten her in the semifinals of last summer's Libéma Open on grass, 6-4, 6-4.

The Dutch No.1 recorded her 100th main draw victory on hard courts by virtue of beating World No.101 Anastasia Potapova in the quarterfinals, and aims for a fourth win over a Russian speaker against Rybakina - having also beaten Veornika Kudermetova (R2) and Ekaterina Alexandrova (SF). 

This time last year, Rybakina was ranked World No.196, but she has now won 36 of her past 46 matches on tour, a sequence which began with her maiden title run at Bucharest last July.

Bertens will remain at No.8 after the tournament, while Rybakina, who finished 2019 ranked No.37, will make her Top 20 debut this week after earning a spot in the final.

In the doubles final, top seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara will face No.3 seeds Kaitlyn Christian and Alexa Guarachi.

The Japanese pair are looking to win their fourth title together and second in Russia, having won the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last fall, while Guarachi and Christian are looking for their first title as a team.

Guarachi owns one WTA title, having won Gstaad with Desirae Krawczyk in 2018, while Christian in 0-2 in WTA finals.