St Petersburg Ladies Trophy: Kiki Bertens beats Elena Rybakina in straight sets to retain title

St Petersburg: Kiki Bertens beat Elena Rybakina 6-1, 6-3 to retain the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_8048551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Kiki Bertens celebrates her victory over Elena Rybakina in the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Sunday. AP Photo[/caption] It’s the first title of 2020 for the Dutch player, who’s eighth in the world rankings. She hit six aces on the way to victory and held serve throughout. Second-seeded Bertens needed just 1 hour, 14 minutes to beat Rybakina in the final after fighting off a second-set comeback from Rybakina by saving four break points in the opening game. Bertens ended a 0-3 streak in tour finals to claim her first tournament win since she beat Simona Halep in Madrid in May. Bertens last successfully defended a title in Nuremburg in 2017. Eighth-seeded Rybakina, from Kazakhstan, was playing her third final of 2020 after a strong start to the season.