On their first career meeting, Daria Kasatkina defeated Japan number one Misaki Doi and continued her debut run at Coupe Rogers in Montréal. Both players recently reached their career-high rankings (29 for Kasatkina, 35 for Doi), and are competing in the American swing to gain a spot in the upcoming U.S. Open’s seeding.
Coming right from a quarterfinal in Stanford, with today’s loss Doi repeated the result she reached last year in Toronto: coming from the qualifying draw, she lost in the first round to Angelique Kerber, winning only one game in the entire match.
Doi’s solid defense grants her the first set
The opening game showed a prediction of the general trend of this first set. Immediately falling 0-40 down to Kasatkina on her service game, Doi won five points in a row to hold to start the set, and then played a solid game on return to gain a 2-0 lead on the first break point. Some errors from the Russian helped her to hold and consolidate a 3-0 advantage.
Kasatkina kept her struggle on serve, finally holding with a good first serve, not before dragging the game to deuce. The 19-year-old took advantage of the momentum, attacking Doi’s second serves and benefitting of another error from the Japanese to convert her second break point of the game.
The success is temporary, and after another battled game Doi forces the Russian to an all-court defense and eventually closed two important points that let her regaining the lead. One more time, the Japanese fell 0-40 down while serving, and one more time she scored five points in a row to settle a 5-2 scoreline and secure her chance to serve for the set.
After a brief talk with her coach, Kasatkina saved two set points to hold her following game, and went 40-15 up while Doi was serving for the set, gaining two more chances to break; once again, the Japanese scored the next four points to win the first set with a 6-3 scoreline, helped by a very solid game on the most critical points.
Kasatkina wins an important break and levels to 1 set all
The second set saw the young Russian far more solid on her serve. After holding to 15 the opening game, she started to threaten the Japanese in the second one, which became the longest game of the match as both players struggled to consolidate their advantage. In the end, it’s the Japanese who eventually held, not before saving four break points and wasting herself three chances to hold.
The players exchanged quick holds until the sixth game, in which Kasatkina took advantage from a weak shot from the net from Doi to score on her first break point and gain a 4-2 lead. She consolidated it by holding the following game to love.
It’s Doi’s turn to speak with her coach, but as for the Russian it the first game, even if it helped her, it came too late. The Japanese comfortably held her following game, but immediately fell 40-0 down in the next, giving Kasatkina three chances to take the set. There’s no other solid comeback for the 25-year-old, who saved only one break point but eventually surrendered, letting the Russian book the second set with a 6-3 scoreline.
Kasatkina keeps the momentum and rushes ahead to claim the match
From then on, it’s almost a one-sided match from the Russian, who kept her momentum with a very solid game on serve, and did a better job in converting her chances than she did at the beginning of the match.
She started the set with an early break, once again wasting a first 0-30 lead on the Japanese, but prevailed after one of the longest rallies of the match to gain a break point, which she converted right away. A hold to 15 gave her an immediate 2-0 lead.
Doi held after another battled game, but it would be the last game she won in the match. After the Japanese spoke to her coach for the second time, the Russian held to love, and then battled with returns to break Doi’s game once again; one more hold to love gave her a very solid 5-1 lead. She was, at that point, in total control of the match; she defended well to gain a first match point on Doi’s following serve, and immediately converted it, to win 6-1 the third set and gain her ticket to the next round.
Despite having wasted most of her chances for a lead during the match - she converted 5 break points out of 19 - a better consistency in both first and second serve, as well as in return points, made the difference for Kasatkina, allowing her to overcame the initial struggle to eventually book the match.
Daria Kasatkina will meet Samantha Stosur in the second round. It will be their first career meeting.