Romania's Niculescu advances at St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy
Monica Niculescu of Romania, the world No. 37, moved into the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Russia's Natalia Vikhlyantseva.
Vinci Downs Wickmayer to Reach St. Petersburg Quarterfinals
Roberta Vinci secured her place in the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy by beating Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 7-6 (2) on Wednesday.
Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy by Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 7-5 after a heated dispute with the umpire over a mistaken call.
Bencic beats Pavlyuchenkova to make St. Petersburg semifinal
Top-seeded Belinda Bencic won a late-night battle with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to take the final spot in the semifinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Over the course of a two-and-a-half-hour match which concluded after midnight, the Swiss world No. 11 ground down her fifth-seeded Russian opponent to win 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2.
Belinda Bencic to play Roberta Vinci in St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy final
Belinda Bencic of Switzerland beat Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in a battle of 18-year-olds to book a St. Petersburg final against Roberta Vinci of Italy, who earlier in the day downed Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in straight sets.
In the other semifinal, Vinci rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the first set to top Ivanovic 7-5, 6-4. Vinci, ranked 16th in the world, recorded just 12 unforced errors to 29 for Ivanovic.
Vinci beats Bencic to win St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy
Roberta Vinci snapped a losing streak in finals to beat top-seeded Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 and take the inaugural St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Sunday.