Sorana Cirstea
The debutant in Saint Petersburg, Sorana hopes to spit out the disastrous results of last year’s indoor hardcore, in which she won only 2 matches out of 7 disputed.
The beginning of the year brought us only 2 wins in 5 games played, and it failed to “bind” 2 consecutive wins.

Dominika Cibulkova
The quarterfinals in 2016 and the semifinalist last year, Cibulkova has shown he feels very good here and could win the tournament.
After the quarter finals in Sydney, Dominika disappointed at the Australian Open, being eliminated from the inaugural round by experienced Kaia Kanepi.

Direct meetings
No fewer than five direct confrontations took place between the two players so far, with Dominikai’s score being 4-1. The last match between Cirstea and Cibulkova was played in Madrid in 2016 when the latter set in 3 sets.

Despite the lack of subjectivism, I do not think Sorana is able to defeat Cibulkova, considering several arguments.
First of all, the Romanian has never played in Saint Petersburg and does not know the surface, compared to its opponent, who was in the third place. Moreover, Dominika has always crossed the first round here.
Secondly, Cibulkova has shown very rare problems in front of our conational, and I find it hard to believe that it will just lose on a fast surface. Cirstea has a complex in front of the Slovakian player and I do not think he’s going too soon.

Prediction: Dominika Cibulkova win @ 1.36