By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Daria Kasatkina outdueled Monica Puig, 6-0, 6-7, 6-2, to reach the Charleston round of 16 for the second straight year.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
A once commanding lead had gone down the drain, but Daria Kasatkina wasn’t exactly flushing feelings away.
The 19-year-old Russian stormed through nine of the first 10 games only to see Monica Puig charged back to force a final set.
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That’s when Kasatkina looked into the mirror and unloaded on herself.
Using the looking glass as a motivational sounding board, Kasatkina came back from a break down in the decider defeating Puig, 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-2, advancing to the Charleston round of 16 for the second straight year.
It was a much-needed win for the world No. 42, who snapped a four-match losing streak in the opening round.
“A lot of things in my mind after the second set,” Kasatkina told Tennis Channel’s Sloane Stephens afterward. “I just came to toilet break, look in the mirror and said a few words to myself—not nice words—some motivation to myself that helped me.”
While Kasatikina rose through a tough test, compatriot Elena Vesnina fell in a stunner.
Eighteen-year-old Fanny Stollar, a 282nd-ranked Hungarian qualifier, fired 13 aces shocking the fourth-seeded Vesnina, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), to earn her third WTA main-draw victory of the season.
"If I can believe it, you know, like in the first game, I really had to believe it that I can beat her," said Stollar afterward. "So I could, and it helped me a lot."
Since defeating Angelique Kerber, Venus Williams, Kristina Mladenovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova in succession to win Indian Wells last month, Vesnina has suffered opening-rounds losses in Miami—to Ajla Tomljanovic—and Charleston.
Stollar, who hit just one ace in her first-round win over Asia Muhammad, will play either Jelena Ostapenko or Maria Sakkari for a quarterfinal spot.
"It feels really good, but it's still not done," Stollar said. "So I can't be so happy about it because the next one is coming up."
The Kasatkina-Puig match was the their third career clash and marked the third time they’ve gone the distance.
Puig prevailed in a two hour, 43-minute victory in the Doha quarterfinals earlier this year after Kasatkina won a third-set tie break cappign a two hour, 43-minute conquest in their first meeting at the 2016 Indian Wells.
“We always have tough matches with Monica because she’s a big fighter and she’s hitting so hard,” Kasatkina told Tennis Channel afterward. “Always difficult to play point-by-point, but I’m happy I did it today… It was a good match.”
Throughout the first two sets, Kasatkina effectively used her high-bounding kick serve on the ad side to displace the 5-foot-7 Puerto Rican and set up her best strike—the backhand down the line.
Carving angles and drawing a rash of errors from her opponent, it took Kasatkina just 23 minutes to cruise through the opening set. Puig won just one of 13 points played on her serve in the opening as Kasatkina won all six points played on the Puerto Rican's second serve in the set.
Down a set and 1-3, Puig began to play with more control and find her range. The Puerto Rican answered with a four-game run, breaking Kasatkina for the second time to snatch a 5-3 lead.
When Puig served for the set, Kasatkina stepped up. Crunching successive winners down the line, Kasatkina broke for 4-5 on a Puig error then held at 30 for 5-all.
Puig played a clean game stamping a love hold for 6-5.
Serving to force a tie break, Kasatkina saved set point when Puig missed the mark trying to squeeze a shoulder-high forehand down the line. Kasatkina hit behind Puig leveling the set to force the tie break.
A willingness to step into the court turned the tie break in Puig’s favor. An inside-out forehand followed by a whipping forehand swing volley brought Puig three more set points at 6-3.
The world No. 40 spun a forehand down the line collecting the second set where she more than doubled Kasatkina’s winner output (15 to 7).
The pair traded breaks to open the final set. Kasatkina dug in to deny a pair of break points holding for 3-2.
That hold empowered Kasatkina, who cranked a forehand return down the line that skimmed the top of the tape for break point. Though Puig had been the aggressor for much of the set, nerve betrayed her as she spun a double fault to donate the break and a 4-2 lead.
Firing her first ace of the match, the 19-year-old Russian backed up the break at 30.
A double fault gave Kasatkina triple match point. Puig fought off all three, including cracking a short forehand into the corner.
Launching a forehand long, the Olympic gold medal champion faced a fourth match point. Pounding away at the backhand, Kasatkina drew a final backhand into net to seal a two hour, one-minute victory.
The pair concluded their third straight three-set battle with a respectful embrace at net.
Kasatkina will play her best friend on tour and frequent practice partner, Daria Gavrilova for a quarterfinal spot.
The 27th-ranked Gavrilova grounded or Alison Riske, 6-3, 6-1, in 69 minutes.
As a lucky loser, Kasatkina won her lone prior meeting with Gavrilova, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, at the 2015 US Open played before they became close friends. The experience left the younger player feeling a little frightened, Gavrilova revealed.
No. 8-seeded Anastasija Sevastova swept 2014 Charleston champion Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-4, in 83 minutes.