By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, May 28, 2022
Daria Kasatkina has discovered the cure for competitive hangover: a good cry and convincing strikes.
The 20th-ranked Russian broke serve in Shelby Rogers' first and last service games of both sets rolling into the Roland Garros fourth round with a 6-3, 6-2 sweep on Court 7.
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The victory vaults Kasatkina into the Roland Garros fourth round for the first time since 2018 when she reached successive major quarterfinals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
The 25-year-old Kasatkina has been the most efficient woman in the field through week one.
So far, Kasatkina has permitted just 10 games in three tournaments wins—two games fewer than world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who has dropped only 12 games en route to the fourth round.
All this from a woman who had failed to survive the second round in 10 of her prior 12 Grand Slam appearances.
Kasatkina credits efficiency with conserving her energy for a second-week run.
"I think I increase the level of the game in general, because also if you consider I was winning the matches before three sets, you know, losing a lot of energy and very emotional ones," Kasatkina told the media in Paris. "This time I go a bit quicker, let's say, so I'm saving the energy.
"Mentally it's easier. And it's all together, sometimes you don't know, you can be prepared really well for the tournament and you can lose the first round because of maybe the bad draw or the bad match or something."
A heart-breaking Rome quarterfinal loss left a bad taste in Kasatkina's mouth earlier this month. She held a match point at 5-4 in the third set before bowing to eventual-finalist Ons Jabeur 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
In the past, Kasatkina concedes that defeat would have eaten away at her emotions for days. This time, she had a good cry, turned the match and arrived in Paris feeling positive.
"I cried for five minutes after the match and then was fine, was fine," Kasatkina said. "I mean, next day I didn't have like, I call it hangover, post-match hangover, post-lose hangover.
"I'm happy with the way I took this loss because, I mean, normally I would be out of my mind for the next couple of days, losing from match point. But this time it was different and I'm happy with the way I grew up in this way."
The emotionally-expressive Russian will need that maturity meeting explosive Italian Camila Giorgi for a quarterfinal spot.
In a clash of hard hitters, the 28th-seeded Giorgi ripped through 12 of the final 13 games surprising seventh-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Kasatkina beat Giorgi in their lone pro clash at the 2020 Lyon, but knows she'll need to move quickly and defend vigorously against baseline blaster Giorgi.
"She was hitting hard, I was trying to defend and then my defense was a bit better," Kasatkina said of Giorgi. "But every match is different, so we're going to see what's going to happen after tomorrow."
Photo credit: Getty