ST. PETERSBURG, January 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Vera Zvonareva defeated on Monday her compatriot Yekaterina Makarova in the opening round of the 2019 WTA St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy tennis tournament.

The match lasted for 1 hour 15 minutes and ended with Zvonareva’s straight sets win of 6-3; 6-4.

The duo played against each other five time in the past with Makarova winning three of them. Duoring their previous meeting at the WTA tournament in Thailand’s Pattaya in 2004, Makarova enjoyed a straight sets win.

Zvonareva, the bronze medalist of the 2008 Olympics, is set to meet in the next round of the tournament in St. Petersburg the winner of the match between Maria Sakkari of Greece and Germany’s Julia Goerges.

The St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy is classified as the WTA (Women Tennis Association) Premier tournament since 2016 although it was first held in Saint Petersburg in 2003. This year the tournament runs in the Russian second largest city between January 29 and February 4.