Russian Daria Kasatkina stopped her four-match losing streak at the Volvo Car Open as she defeated another struggling player in Danka Kovinic, whose losing streak got extended to eight matches. It was truly an excellent performance from Kasatkina, who sealed a meeting with Monica Puig in the second round.
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| Daria Kasatkina in action at Dubai | Photo: Tom Dulat/Getty Images Europe |
The Russian got off to the perfect start to the match as she jumped out to a formidable 4-0 lead within a blink of an eye, constantly troubling Kovinic with her kick serves and slices that can mix up her rhythm, causing her to start making more unforced errors off her racquet.
Nevertheless, some good and consistent first serves in the fifth game then allowed Kovinic to win her first game of the day and got herself on to the scoreboard. Kasatkina did not get affected by the loss of this game, eventually strolling to the winning of the first set after just a mere 26 minutes.
Nevertheless, some good and consistent first serves in the fifth game then allowed Kovinic to win her first game of the day and got herself on to the scoreboard. Kasatkina did not get affected by the loss of this game, eventually strolling to the winning of the first set after just a mere 26 minutes.
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| Danka Kovinic in action at Melbourne Park | Photo: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images AsiaPac |
The second set seemed to be much tighter at the start as there was an exchange of service holds to get things started. However, from the third game onwards, Kasatkina started to step up her game and carried her momentum over from the first set to break serve and take a huge advantage, looking closer to victory than ever.
Her run of games stopped at three as she failed to capitalize on three break points and lost a 0-40 lead in the sixth game when the score was 4-1 40-0* in her favour, allowing Kovinic to have a slim chance of mounting a comeback. Despite so, Kovinic was still unable to find a solution to the kick serves of Kasatkina which allows her to get on the offense from the first stroke onwards, allowing the Russian to hold her serve and thus placing herself just one game away from the encouraging victory.
Despite putting up a tough resistance, Kasatkina proved to be just too good for Kovinic as she eventually sealed up the win within exactly one hour of play, setting up a blockbuster meeting with Puig in the second round, hoping to exact revenge for her loss in Doha.
Her run of games stopped at three as she failed to capitalize on three break points and lost a 0-40 lead in the sixth game when the score was 4-1 40-0* in her favour, allowing Kovinic to have a slim chance of mounting a comeback. Despite so, Kovinic was still unable to find a solution to the kick serves of Kasatkina which allows her to get on the offense from the first stroke onwards, allowing the Russian to hold her serve and thus placing herself just one game away from the encouraging victory.
Despite putting up a tough resistance, Kasatkina proved to be just too good for Kovinic as she eventually sealed up the win within exactly one hour of play, setting up a blockbuster meeting with Puig in the second round, hoping to exact revenge for her loss in Doha.