Kasatkina’s incredible failure in the match with the Ukrainian. Svitolina beat Daria for the eighth time
Daniil Salnikov August 2, 2023, 22:49 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The score of personal encounters reached the mark of 0-8. How is that?
Of the five tournaments that take place in the first week of August, the Russians only compete in Washington. In the men’s grid, there were originally two of our representatives – Aslan Karatsev and Alexander Shevchenko, and in the women’s grid there were three – Daria Kasatkina, Lyudmila Samsonova and Anastasia Potapova. Unfortunately, due to injury, Potapova did not finish the first round matchup, and Aslan Karatsev, after defeating New Zealand’s Kiranpal Pannu, lost in two tiebreaks to second seed Francis Tiafoe.
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Kasatkina started victoriously in Washington. She will now play with the Ukrainian Svitolina.
But Shevchenko has already bested two Americans: Maxim Cressy and Sebastian Kordu (8th seed), and was the highest-rated opponent the 22-year-old Russian has beaten in his short career thus far. Korda is the first top 30 player to be defeated by Shevchenko. Then Alexandru will play in the 3rd round with the winner of the Barrer-Evans pairing.
On the women’s grid, Lyudmila Samsonova, who defends last year’s title here, successfully started. In just over an hour, the Russian dealt with wild card holder Danielle Collins of the USA. But Russia’s top racket Daria Kasatkina put in a great effort to face Belgian Elise Mertens, and over 21 games , the girls did 11 breaks together.
Kasatkina’s opponent in the second round was 28-year-old Elina Svitolina. Most recently, a Ukrainian woman returned from her maternity leave and very quickly takes shape and previous positions in the ratings. At the moment, Svitolina is already the first racket from Ukraine and will be seeded at the US Open. In the first round in Washington, Elina defeated former world number one, two-time Slams champion and another tennis mother, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, in a tough battle. By the way, before this match, the audience was warned that the athletes from Ukraine would not shake hands with Russians and Belarusians. The organizers announced the start of the tournament. And there was no scandal. Azarenka at a press conference commented on the situation: “I don’t care, really. How long are we going to talk about this? It is so important? Is it interesting for people that journalists constantly write about the same thing? This kind of decision, to explain something to the fans, is already 18 months overdue.
elina svitolina
Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images
It is worth noting that before that, Svitolin and Kasatkin had already played 7 times in their careers, and in all cases the victory was celebrated by a Ukrainian, including the fourth round match at Roland Garros – 2023. Vice President of the FTR Alexei Selivanenko gave such a forecast for the 8- match with these rivals: “It will be an interesting match. Kasatkina and Svitolina know each other very well. Their meeting at Roland Garros was tense, but then Elina prevailed. The Ukrainian performed well at Wimbledon and is on the rise, while Daria’s first-round match with Mertens turned out to be lopsided. As always at such meetings, a lot will depend on psychology and who can win the most important balls, ”Vprognoze.ru quotes Selivanenko.
Daria Kasatkina
Photo: Gabriele Maricchiolo/Getty Images
At first, the fight in the duel was even. The girls took their serve, however the Russians had no, no, but double faults slipped through. And yet Kasatkina managed to win the first two games on her field – 2:1. However, then Daria had an incredible failure. The Russian woman began to lose game after game, she gave two feeds in a row – 2: 5. And during the opponent’s submission for the set, she failed to make 6 break points – 2:6. The second batch was for the first racket from Russia even worse. In other people’s games she didn’t have a chance, besides she returned to give hers one after another. As a result, Kasatkina lost 9 games in a row, but still managed to interrupt the series that was unpleasant for her – 1:4. Daria clung to the next game on someone else’s field – 11 times it was “exactly”, the Russian woman won 4 break points. However, the match could not be saved. The victory of Elina Svitolina – 6:2, 6:2 in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
This is how Daria Kasatkina lost to the Ukrainian for the eighth time in a row and withdrew from the fight. And Elina Svitolina in the 1/4 finals in Washington will play on Friday with the winner of the pairing Jessica Pegula – Python Stearns.
