After the opening battle she faced against Ons Jabeur, another complicated match showed in front of Daria Kasatkina as she met Saisai Zheng, who had performed a huge upset in the previous round by defeating fourth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets. Kasatkina and Zheng had previously met only once in career a few months ago at the Volvo Car Open. On the green clay of Charleston, it had been Kasatkina to prevail, edging off the Chinese 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. Their meeting at Rio Summer Olympics became more tricky for the Russian, who after securing the lead by quickly winning the first set, found herself trailing to stay in the second; she eventually took back the control of the game only in the very last part of the match, closing it with a 6-1, 6-4 final score.
Kasatkina shows consistency on serve and takes the lead
The 19-year-old Russian started at full throttle, dominating to secure a 5-0 lead without dropping a single point on her serve, with the only exception of a single double-fault. She set up a real threat on the Chinese’s service games too; Zheng couldn’t become any dangerous with her first serve, and showed a big vulnerability on her second serve, which allowed Kasatkina to step in and attack to steal important points.
She broke to love the 22-year-old Chinese’s game right as the set started and then kept pushing as Zheng served, negating her three chances to hold, and eventually converting her second break point to secure her lead.
The Russian’s confidence seemed to falter for a moment in the sixth game; serving for the set, Kasatkina let Zheng win her first points on return, quickly falling 0-40 down. Two break points became enough from the Chinese, who avoided a bagel to win her first game on the set. A game that remained sole; regaining the control of her play, Kasatkina started pushing again on returns, and broke the Chinese’s still too weak serve one more time to win the first set 6-1.
Kasatkina overcomes a close fight to close the match
Zheng kept her hopes alive by breaking Kasatkina to love right at the start of the second set, benefitting a double-fault from the Russian on break point. The 19-year-old took the break right back but again struggled on her own serve, unable to put a first serve in. Again she hit a double-fault on break point, gifting Zheng another advantage.
None of the players seemed able to make a real difference with their service games; the set proceeded with a succession of breaks, until Zheng interrupted the streak, holding to love for a 4-2 lead. Facing the pressure, Kasatkina found again some of the control on serve she showed in the opening set and held for the first time to stay in the set. Still up a break, Zheng found herself in need to hold to keep the lead. Another pushing game on return, and Kasatkina successfully broke back, leveling off the game to 4-all.
Becoming able again to control points with her serve, the Russian held to 15 to take the lead for the first time in the set. With even more pressure to hold than in the previous game, the Chinese wasted two chances to win the game, and eventually conceded one match point to the Russian. Kasatkina didn’t fail to convert it, closing a battled second set 6 games to 4 and gaining the right to advance to the third round.
As she already did in the opening match, the Russian became her own worst enemy during the second set, failing to use her serve as a weapon and conceding her opponent too many chances to gain the lead. Only a better performance on the late part of the set avoided her to be forced to play a decider.
Daria Kasatkina will meet Sara Errani in her third round match.