On Monday, February 12, at the WTA-1000 tournament in Doha (Qatar), the first round matches ended and the second round matches began at the same time. The organizers have reduced the calendar of Middle East tournaments to the limit, to the point that the event in Doha began yesterday, the day of the “five hundred” final in Abu Dhabi (UAE).
One of those who expressed discontent with such a busy schedule was Russia’s first racket, Daria Kasatkina. In Abu Dhabi she reached the final, where she lost to Elena Rybakina. It should be noted that Kasatkina made the comment about her even before the title match with the representative of Kazakhstan.
“It’s horrible. I have a question, I don’t know who, the WTA or the tournaments: are they trying to make players die or get injured frequently?” – Daria said at a press conference.
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Be that as it may, we still had to play in Doha. To make matters worse, rain interfered with the calendar, something that doesn’t happen very often in this area of the globe. Because of this, two matches were spread over two days: Emma Navarro (USA, 16) – Yasmine Paolini (Italy) and Ashlyn Kruger (USA, Q) – Paula Badosa (Spain, World Cup).
However, the rain did not affect the matches with the Russians. Yesterday, on the first day of the tournament, three matches were held with our participation, including the derby between 19-year-old Erika Andreeva and Diana Schneider; Both athletes reached the main draw through qualification. In the first set, Andreeva lost 2-5 with two breaks, but she recovered and dragged her opponent to the tiebreak, where she was stronger. And in the second game, Erica had the only break point achieved in the first game: 7:6 (7:2), 6:4 in 1 hour 48 minutes.
Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) defeated the lucky Bulgarian loser Victoria Tomova. In the first set Alexandrova lost her game 5: 4 in her favor. But in the tiebreaker she demonstrated her superiority. And in the second game, Ekaterina, having made a key break in the eighth game, fended off a double break point in the ninth and took advantage of the second match point: 7:6 (7:5), 6: 3 in 1 hour 31. minutes.
In the second round, Andreeva and Alexandrova will face each other. But Veronika Kudermetova (13) could not advance further, losing to American Danielle Collins (Q). In the first set, Kudermetova, serving at 5:4, lost a set point and then lost the next two games, and with them the game 5:7. In the second set, Veronica, with a score of 4: 3 in favor of Collins, allowed her rival to make a break, after which she served for the match 7: 5, 6: 3 in 1 hour and 53 minutes.
We have to admit that Kudermetova is clearly out of shape right now. This defeat was the fourth in a row.
But all this was yesterday. And today four more matches were played with the participation of Russian tennis players, including the derby. But first things first.
Lyudmila Samsonova (12) met with the US Open 2021 finalist, the world’s number 38 racket player, Canadian Leila Fernández. In the first set, Fernandez led 2-0, but Samsonova immediately responded with a break, after which she tied the score at 2-2. Subsequently, the tennis players won games with her serve and only the Russian reached break points. This continued until the score reached 5:5, then the Canadian took hers and then someone else’s serve: 7:5 in 1 hour.
In the second game, Fernandez fought off a break point in the first game and took Samsonova’s serve in the second. It seemed that the Russian woman would no longer have a chance to escape. Lyudmila lost 2:5 with a break, but with 5:3 in favor of the Canadian she did not allow her to serve for the match. And the serve at 4:5 was not in her favor, the Russian saved three match points and tied the score-5:5! In the end, everything ended in a tiebreaker, in which, unfortunately, Leila turned out to be stronger. She led 5-1, Samsonova reduced the gap (5-4), but nothing more: 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) in favor of Fernández in 2 hours and 12 minutes.
Anastasia Potapova was originally supposed to play 2021 Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova (4). But the Czech withdrew from the tournament at the last minute and Italy’s lucky loser, Martina Trevisan, played the Russian instead. Despite the emergency exit, Trevisan tried to force Potapova to fight. And she achieved it.
In the first few games, Potapova missed all five break points, including a three-pointer in the first game. At the same time, the Russian confidently maintained her serve. And in the fifth game, Anastasia, taking advantage of her opponent’s mistakes, achieved the first break of the match. This advantage was enough for her, although in the eighth game, with the score 4:3 in favor of Potapova, there was a slippery moment. But Anastasia fended off a break point after her opponent hit the net. And in the tenth game, the Russian came out from 0:30 and served for the set 6:4 in 50 minutes.
At the beginning of the second match, the tennis players exchanged breaks. Moreover, if Potapova took someone else’s serve confidently enough, Trevisan put pressure on her only from the fourth break point (at the end of the game, the Italian was also helped by a double fault from the Russian). This was followed by another exchange of breaks: 2:2. In the fifth game, Martina made a double on a break point, after which Anastasia finally took the game 4:2. In the eighth game, Trevisan had one last chance to turn things around, but missed both break points. And with 5:4 Potapova served for the match: 6:4, 6:4 in 1 hour 44 minutes.
In the derby, Roland Garros 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Russia’s first racket Daria Kasatkina (11) faced each other. In head-to-head matches, Kasatkina led with a convincing score of 4-1. At the same time, Pavlyuchenkova won her only victory on her back in 2015, in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup, which Daria began with qualification. Then Kasatkina took revenge twice in the Kremlin Cup (in 2017 and 2018), and she also won in Melbourne in 2021 and in Madrid in 2023, when they played for the only time not on hard courts, but on clay. Today Pavlyuchenkova was able to reduce the difference.
The first set was left to Pavlyuchenkova, who tried (and not without success) to play actively. Kasatkina, who often made mistakes due to evident fatigue after Abu Dhabi, only won two games, one on serve and one on return. But it cannot be said that there was no struggle. On the contrary, Anastasia had to take advantage of her breaks, especially in the fourth game, taking advantage from the fourth break point. At the same time, Daria, with 4:2 in favor of her opponent, was unable to take advantage of a double break point. And in the eighth game, which became the last of the game, Pavlyuchenkova achieved her goal only from the second set point in the reception – 6: 2 in 39 minutes.
In the second set, Anastasia led 4:1 with a break. At the same time, Kasatkina missed all six break points in other games, and Pavlyuchenkova, on the contrary, made her break point to zero. Interestingly, after that, Daria was able to use hidden reserves (and her opponent, on the contrary, began to make mistakes), and she took four games in a row! Even more surprising is that after that she could not serve for the game by 5:5. Then, the tennis players exchanged breaks again; It turned out that in the last four games before the tiebreaker, the server only took one point each time. In the tiebreaker, Anastasia did not give her rival many chances: 6: 2, 7: 6 (7: 2) in 1 hour and 42 minutes.
In the second round, Pavlyuchenkova will play against the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
Finally, Anna Kalinskaya (WC), one of the heroes of the 2024 Australian Open, played with former first racket and now world number 59 Karolina Pliskova. The score of her personal matches was tied: 1-1. Kalinskaya was stronger in Miami 2022 and Pliskova took revenge at Indian Wells 2023. Today the Czech achieved her second victory.
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At first it seemed that Kalinskaya and Pliskova were now in different “weight classes”, although in reality it turned out that this was not the case. In the first game, the Russian led 4-0 and then, without trying very hard, served for the set 5-2 – 6-2 in just 29 minutes. Anna surpassed her opponent both in movement and directly in attacking actions.
However, in the second set the fight was much more serious. Pliskova served better and this could not but affect the course of the game. Kalinskaya faced a triple break point in the first game, but the Czech managed to recover it. In the seventh game, the Russian had a new opportunity to take the other’s serve, but he again failed to take advantage of it. And in the eighth game Anna had to save a break point (for the first time in the match), fortunately successfully 4:4.
In the tenth game, Carolina managed “exactly” a couple of times, but no more: 5:5. In the eleventh game, Kalinskaya again reached a double break point, but Pliskova fought back. The Russian then reduced her serve to love at 6:6. In the tiebreaker, the Czech was better by 7:6 (7:3) in 1 hour and 2 minutes. In the second game alone, Carolina landed as many as nine aces!
Before the decisive match, Kalinskaya left the court for a long time. But the pause did not help the Russian, at least at first. He lost the first four games. At the same time, in the second game Anna had a triple break point, but then Pliskova began to play with precision and did not allow her opponent to equalize the score.
The Russian had the opportunity to improve the situation a little, but with the 4-1 in favor of the Czech she missed a double break point. Carolina could not serve for the match with the score 5:2, not only did she continue to accumulate aces, but she also committed two double faults. At 5:4, Pliskova had a second chance to finish the match. Here Kalinskaya could not do anything: 2:6, 7:6 (7:3), 6:4 in 2 hours and 15 minutes in favor of Pliskova, who served 19 times throughout the match.
In the second round, Pliskova will face Potapova.
“The thousandth” in Doha will end on February 17. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
