By Chris Oddo | Wednesday February 10, 2016

The Russians are rising on the WTA Tour, but Ana Ivanovic did her part to keep one of them down on Wednesday at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.

Ivanovic may have fell down after missing an easy forehand late in the match (see funny video above), but the world No. 20 was strong when she needed to be in notching her third win of the season.

Ivanovic battled past a talented Margarita Gasparyan, breaking the 21-year-old in the final game of the first set then taking control in the second to notch a 7-5, 6-2 victory and book her spot in the quarterfinals.

18-year-old Daria Kasatkina kept the Russian fans happy earlier in the day when she edged past Kirsten Flipkens in a tight three-set battle. Each set was level at 4-all, but it was Kasatkina who came through in the decider, grabbing the final two games to set up a second-round encounter with Germany’s Laura Siegemund.

Siegemund defeated France’s Kristina Mladenovic, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Other Wednesday winners were Dominika Cibulkova, who powered past Evgeniya Rodina, 6-3, 6-0, Annika Beck, who defeated Lucie Hradecka, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 and Elina Vesnina, who slipped past Patricia Maria Tig, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.