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By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 21, 2021

 
Daria Kasatkina

Daria Kasatkina made history as the first Russian woman to win St. Petersburg. Kasatkina held a 6-3, 2-1 lead when Margarita Gasparyan retired with a low back injury.

Photo credit: FormulaTX Facebook

Mix master Daria Kasatkina delivered recovery and resiliency to make St. Petersburg history.

In the first all-Russian final in St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy history, Kasatkina held a 6-3, 2-1 lead over Margarita Gasparyan when the wild card retired with a low back injury after 55 minutes of play.

Kasatkina: Small Details Making Big Difference

Kasatkina captured her fourth career championship—and second in her last three events following her run to the Philipp Island Trophy title in Melbourne last month—as she rules as the first Russian woman to win St. Petersburg.




Home soil brings out the best in Kasatina, who has won two of her four titles in Russia.

"First of all I would like to congratulate Margarita on a good performance and I wish you a speedy recovery," Kasatkina said during the trophy ceremony. "This tournament has become so dear to me. I would like to hug everyone and thank you. I love St. Petersburg, hopefully I will be here next year. Thank you, St. Petersburg, my heart will be here forever."

Gasparyan took a medical timeout for treatment of a back injury while trailing 1-4. Though she climbed off the court to continue the final, Gasparyan struggled to stretch up on her serve and ultimately pulled the plug after dropping serve twice in a row to start the second set.

"Please forgive me for not being able to play the finals until the end," an emotional Gasparyan told the crowd afterward. "I would like to thank all the fans—thank you very much for cheering for me throughout the whole tournament. I'd like to congratulate Daria on this win."

This shortened final caps an inspired run from Kasatkina, who posted her 11th victory in her last 12 matches raising her 2021 record to an impressive 15-4. She is the first woman to win multiple titles in 2021.

The former world No. 10 started this week ranked No. 61 and is projected to rise to No. 38 when tomorrow's rankings are released. Kasatkina conquered all comers this week snapping Danish qualifer Clara Tauson's 13-match winning streak in her opener, and showing stubborn resolve recovering from a set down in three straight comeback wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, second-seeded Veronika Kudermetova and two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova en route to her second title on home soil after the 2018 Moscow crown. 

Despite a painful end and her first final loss in three titles matches, the 26-year-old Gasparyan showed superb shotmaking and desire knocking off seventh-seeded Kristina Mladenovic, top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova and former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in becoming the first woman with a one-handed backhand to contest a WTA 500-level final since Carla Suarez Navarro at the 2018 New Haven tournament.

The wild card won the toss, elected to receive and immediately applied pressure. Kasatkina is a mix master who can befuddle opponents with an array of spins and speeds.

 In the opening game, Gasparyan showed her variety carving out a drop shot, a smooth half volley and smash earning break point. Kasatkina erased it for a challenging hold then drew successive forehand errors from the power player to break for 2-0. Gasparyan's repeatedly attacked Kasatkina's second serve and her forehand wing breaking back in the third game.




When Kasatkina has time to run around and hit her topspin forehand from her backhand corner she can exploit angles expertly. Kasatkina spun a diagonal forehand for break point and scored her second straight break on a Gasparyan double fault into net. The world No. 61 backed up the break with a firm love hold extending her lead to 4-1.




Following that game, Gasparyan took a medical timeout for treatment of a lower right back issue. Lying on her stomach, Gasparyan seemed to be wincing as the trainer worked on her low back. After about a seven-minute break, Gasparyan returned to court and looked eager to end points quickly. The crowd offered encouraging applause as she held for the first time in the sixth game.

The eighth-seeded Kasatkina cruised through a second strong hold for 5-2.

A sensational full-stretch running forehand from Gasparyan forced Kasatkina to serve for the set. Testing the stiff back and flexibility of her 6' opponent with a series of off-pace slices, Kasatkina earned triple set point. Relying on her defense to extend the point, Kasatkina drew an errant backhand building a one-set lead after 39 minutes.

Relying on her ball-control skill against a wounded opponent Kasatkina committed only five unforced errors compared to 12 for Gasparyan in the opening set.

Tennis Express

Casting concerned glances to her box between serves, Gasparyan sprayed a backhand long to surrender serve to start the second set.

How would Gasparyan's back hold up amid second-set stress? Though she was sometimes hitting her groundstrokes even harder, Gasparyan didn't look as comfortable extending up and out on serve. She squandered a 40-love lead double faulting away a second straight break.

As the players walked to their court-side seats, Gasparyan officially retired.  

It's the first time Kasatkina has won two titles in a single season and we're only two-and-a-half-months into the season. 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."

 

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