Attention to detail in all aspects of her game and a renewed sense of self belief is helping Daria Kasatkina craft resurgence.
The No. 8-seeded Kasatkina roared through 12 of the last 15 games stopping second-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 to charge into her third St. Petersburg semifinal where she will face fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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It was Kasatkina's ninth victory in her last 10 matches propelling her into her second semifinal in her last three events.
Last month, Kasatkina competed with conviction battling through three three-set victories en route to the Philipp Island Trophy title in Melbourne—her first title since the 2018 Moscow.
This week in St. Petersburg, the 61st-ranked Kasatkina snapped Lyon champion Clara Tauson's 13-match winning streak and has showed grit winning successive three-setters to return to the final four.
Kasatkina credits her work on serving technique and mental training with a sport psychologist during the pandemic as keys to her 2021 resurgence.
"I was working a lot on everything all the aspects of my game especially in this lockdown five months we were working a lot on the steps," Kasatkina told Tennis Now of her work with coach Carlos Martinez. "On the follow through, swings everything, especially for the serve a lot.
"I was working a lot with my psychologist on the mental part. Now in tennis all the small details they decide everything. So it's very important to improve yourself in all the aspects of your game and your personality as well."
Mental maturation is evident in tight tests: Kasatkina is 9-1 in her last 10 three-set matches. Kasatkina says her 2021 success is rooted in the work she did during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season that saw her play through qualifying to reach the Rome round of 16 before suffering an injury that set her back at Roland Garros.
Now physically fit, the former world No. 10 is once again playing off the front foot and showing the clever all-court game she exhibited during her run to the Indian Wells final and rise up the rankings.
"Honestly I was a little bit unlucky last year. Because I started to play good already and then you know what happened last year in March," Kasatkina told Tennis Now. "There was no tournaments for the next four or five months. Then I start to come back again and I started to play better again in Rome. In Roland Garros I was injured and but then in Ostrava I was playing good again.
"But unfortunately there was no tournaments left and the season just finished. I start to play good last year. [Now], I just continue working and improving and I hope I'll be there one more time."
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