Daria Kasatkina (8/10) has defeated Margarita Gasparyan (6.5/10) to win the 2021 St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy after the latter withdrew in the second set due to a back injury. The all-Russian final and the surprise performance of Gasparyan have been the (only) two interesting things to happen in the tournament, so her withdrawal effectively wiped those narratives off the map. Kasatkina (try saying her name out loud to yourself three times, it really helps you appreciate the media covering the event) now becomes the first WTA player to win two tournaments this year.
Leningrad is hardly a prestige tournament, of course: Abierto GNP Seguros is also taking place this weekend (Indian Wells is postponed), where Canada's Leylah Fernandez (6/10) will face off against Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic (5.5/10) in what could be dubbed The Battle of the Homely. The alternative going into the semifinals yesterday was a Sara Sorribes Tormo (5/10) vs Ann Li (5.5/10) matchup though, so it's not like we were deprived of the legendary Sharapova (10/10) vs Bouchard (10/10) catfight from Madrid in 2017.
The more attractive WTA stars instead are gearing up for Miami which begins tomorrow, with somebody playing somebody. For six years now I've been complaining about badly designed WTA websites and I think they're actually getting worse.
