By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Daria Kasatkina launched a shot-making spree to snap Clara Tauson's streak.
After squandering two chances to serve out the match, Kasatkina pitched a perfect shutout tie breaker wrapping a pulsating 6-4, 7-6(0) triumph that snapped Tauson's 13-match winning streak in St. Petersburg.
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Kasatkina cracked her lone ace to earn five match points and closed in one hour, 50 minutes to each the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy round of 16.
It's been a season of resurgence for the former world No. 10. Kasatkina, who fell to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open, captured her first title since 2018 at the Phillip Island Trophy during the Australian hard-court swing last month.
Coming off an opening-round loss in Dubai, how would Kasatkina respond to the jolting power and all-court skills of Tauson?
The 18-year-old Dane charged to her first WTA title in Lyon, cracked the Top 100 for the first time and played through qualifying in St. Petersburg to extend her winning streak to 13 matches.
Quick off the mark, Kasatkina combined her clever ball-control skills with a knack for the down-the-line strike to offset Tauson's point-terminating power only to see the teenager make late charges in both sets.
After four breaks in the first five games, Kasatkina settled in, storming to a 5-1 lead. Tauson cut down on her unforced errors and drove the ball with authority closing to 4-5. Kasatkina calmed the threat serving out the set at 30.
Each woman staged surges in the second set with Kasatkina breaking first for 2-1 only to see the 18-year-old from Copenhagen hammer through eight of nine points building a 3-2 lead.
The eighth-seeded Russian responded with some sharper, shorter angles sparking a three-game run to go up 5-3.
Serving for the match, Kasatkina was pushed to defend off her back foot by the explosive Tauson who forced the error converting her third break point to level at 5-all.
Serving at 30-all, Tauson drew a short return but nudged a drop shot into the top of the tape to face break point in the 11th game. Controlling the point with her forehand, Kasatkina hammered a diagonal forehand breaking again.
Stepping up to serve for the match for a second time, Kasatkina stumbled double-faulting away the break sending the second set into a tie breaker.
In the past, Kasatkina might have tightened up over opportunity lost and imploded in the breaker.
Not today.
Elevating her game, Kasatkina ran down a challenging drop shot and angled off an answer, banged a body serve then drew an error to go up 4-0 in the tie breaker.
Cracking her first match of the day down the T brought Kasatkina a fistful of match points and she closed on a final error setting up a round of 16 meeting with Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who beat Ana Bogdan.
It was a big day for qualifiers.
Ninteen-year-old qualifier Wang Xinyu beat Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 5-7, 7-5. Wang served 44 percent and committed 12 double faults, but withstood the serving issues breaking nine times in a two hour, 12-minute win.
The 159th-ranked Wang scored her first Tour-level win of the season advancing to a round of 16 meeting with fourth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In an all-Russian clash, qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova defeated wild card Daria Mishina 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-1, to set up an all-Russian round of 16 vs. second-seeded Veronika Kudermetova.
Katerina Siniakova served 78 percent and won 30 of 37 first-serve points powering past Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-2.