Bertens vs Rybakina Odds & Pick: WTA St. Petersburg Open Finals

• Kiki Bertens and Elena Rybakina will play in the final of the 2020 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy at 8:30am ET Sunday morning
• This will be the second time the players have faced each other
• Check our preview below with a betting prediction

Reigning champion Kiki Bertens will take on 20-year old Elena Rybakina in the finals of 2020 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, after both players found a way to come out on top in their semifinal matchup.

Bertens’ St. Petersburg odds were in the top three to start the tournament, but Rybakina wasn’t even in the top 10. The two will battle it out on Sunday, Feb 16 at 8:30am ET and the odds are favoring Bertens to repeat as champion.

2020 St. Petersburg Final Odds

Odds taken February 15, 2020

Bertens’ Road to the Final

Bertens will attempt to defend her title after successfully advancing to her second straight St. Petersburg final. But she has not been able to successfully defend a title since Nuremberg in 2017. The Dutch player defeated her opponent Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

After Alexandrova was able to steal the second set, Bertens went on to only lose three points on serve and broke Russia’s top-ranked player twice.

Back-to-back @formula_tx finals 🙌@kikibertens defeats Alexandrova 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. pic.twitter.com/zbPOOhympH

— wta (@WTA) February 15, 2020

Rybakina’s Road to the Final

A year ago Rybakina was ranked No. 196, and on Monday it’s projected she will crack the WTA Top 20 for the first time. This is also the first time in her career Rybakina will be playing for a premier-level title. But for the third time in just four events this season, the 20-year old is playing for a trophy. After losing the first set, Rybakina fought back to beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Rybakina was just one game away from losing when she served at 6-3, 5-4. But she found a way to win nine of the next 10 games of the match, and book a ticket to the final. She went on to win 13  of the last 16 points in that second set that she almost lost.

First into the final 😀

Elena Rybakina defeats Sakkari 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, at the @formula_tx. pic.twitter.com/XcohOcnLcm

— wta (@WTA) February 15, 2020

In the final set of the match, No. 8 seed, Rybakina served 81% and only lost three points in her last two service games. The young player also was able to break Sakkarri in all four of her service games in that last set.

Bertens vs Rybakina Head-to-Head

The two players have only played each other once before in last year’s Rosmalen Grass Court Championship semifinals, where Bertens won 6-4, 6-4. Rybakina, who was 19 at the time, put up a tough fight but was ultimately no match for the Netherlands native playing in front of her home crowd.

Best Bet

Throughout this tournament, both players have played phenomenally. But Bertens will be going into this match with bigger things on her mind. She is looking to repeat. The 28-year-old player from Kazakhastan is playing incredible tennis. Ryabkina has a wicked serve, having served up 15 aces in her quarterfinal match against Oceane Dodin. It won’t be an easy match for Bertens, but I think Bertens will be able to outplay her once again.

It will be a big surprise is Bertens is able to win in straight sets like she did last time they played. I think this will definitely go all the way to three sets, and will be close the entire time.

The pick: Bertens -3 (-105) / ML (-170)