(Tennis news) The third WTA 500 event is set to start today as the players come back after the opening Grand Slam of the year. Maria Sakkari, Anett Kontaveit and Elena Rybakina are the top three seeds at the event as 2018 Champion Petra Kvitova will be playing as a wildcard. Here are the top four players to watch out for at the St. Petersburg Open.

Maria Sakkari

The world number 7 has so far played in two events since the start of the season. At Adelaide International 1 she lost to Shelby Rogers in the fourth round and in the Australian Open she lost to Shelby Rogers in the fourth round. Sakkari has a shot to enter the top 5 with a title and beat her previous best of rank 6. The Greek player has won one title in her career which came three years ago and needs to make an impact in Russia. She lost to Julia Georges in the opening round in 18,19 and in 2020 she reached the semifinals.

Anett Kontaveit

Kontaveit had the right start to the year by reaching the semifinals at Sydney but lost in the second round at Australia. The Estonian player needs to bring her season ending form of last year to the start of this season. She will be participating at the event for the first time and will face Jil Teichmann in the opening match.

Elena Rybakina

One of the tallest players on the WTA tour, Rybakina stands 6 foot tall and is currently on her career high number 12 in the rankings. The 22 year old already has played 9 matches from three tournaments this season and reached the finals at Adelaide International 1, she defeated Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinal and lost to Ashleigh Barty in the final. The Russian born player beat Emma Raducanu with the loss of just one game at Sydney and had to retire mid match at Australia against Shuai Zhang due to a left thigh injury. Rybakina was the runner here two years ago and beat Maria Sakkari in the semifinal.

Elise Mertens

Mertens will be playing in the main draw for the second time at St. Petersburg Open and is playing the event after a 5 year gap. The 26 year old reached the fourth round at Sydney and in Australia lost to eventual runner up Danielle Collins. The Belgian was ranked 12 four years ago, at present she has slipped down to 26th. Her 6th title came last year by beating Caroline Garcia, Elina Svitolina and Kaia Kanepi in the final.

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