The Women’s Tennis Association MubadalaCiti DC Open tournament with a prize fund of $780,000 has kicked off in Washington DC. The Russian Daria Kasatkina in two sets (6:3, 7:5) defeated the Belgian Eliza Mertens in the first round and now has to face the most uncomfortable opponent in the women’s round: the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who, in her time, she faced Victoria Azarenka from Belarus.
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For the first number of Russia in women’s singles tennis Daria Kasatkina comes the hour-X. Because the performances in the Grand Slam tournaments this season cannot be called successful. The world number 11 racket, simultaneously lost in the first round of the Australian Open, reached only the fourth round at Roland Garros in Paris, where, incidentally, she lost to her future rival at the Washington tournament, Elina Svitolina, of British Wimbledon. it ended even worse for our tennis player: in the third round, Kasatkina lost the match to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.
All hopes are now pinned on the tough American. There it will be decided if Daria can somehow sweeten the pill of an obviously failed year, and at the same time get on the bandwagon that leaves her called the Final Tournament. For the Russian, Elina Svitolina is the most uncomfortable opponent in the women’s round. All seven matches the girls had against each other during their careers were won by the Ukrainian tennis player, and Svitolina took five fights on hard surfaces, which is her favorite surface, and only two on clay.
In addition, Elina almost always defeated Daria, without reaching the decisive games of any tournament. Only once have a Russian and a Ukrainian woman met in the final and it happened already five years ago at a representative tournament in Dubai. For Kasatkina in recent years it has been a problem to extend the duel with the 27th racket in the world to at least three sets, the Russian has lost the last three battles exclusively in two sets.
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It is time for Kasatkina, in the US capital, to do everything she can to reverse the sad trend. An additional reason for the meeting is another controversial poster, where Russia and Ukraine will meet again. Despite all the almost sports scandals in other sports, in tennis the problem, for example, of handshakes, unlike fencing, was resolved not so long ago. Since this traditional procedure is not mandatory, the debate on this topic has calmed down a bit. Ukrainians in face-to-face meetings with Russians and Belarusians have long abandoned this ritual, so this issue no longer causes controversy and friction.
