Although Kasatkina’s title is still missing this year, Daria is having a decent season with a win-loss record of 32-21. The highlights, of course, were several second places at the Adelaide International 2 (hard) and Eastbourne (grass) tournaments.
The 26-year-old also reached the semi-finals on clay in Charleston, showing her versatility on all three surfaces.
Kasatkina performed in Tokyo after the quarterfinals in Montreal and reached the 1/8 finals of the Cincinnati and US Open tournaments. With encouraging hard court results over the past month, she will look to pick up where she left off.
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk was considered a young star of the future and made her breakthrough last March at the ATX Open in Texas, where she earned her first career victory.
However, since then, the young tennis player has been unable to capitalize on this success and has returned to her former unstable form. In the next 13 tournaments after his triumph in Texas, Kostyuk lost his opening match seven times, including the US Open. His best performance during this period was his only quarterfinal at the Citi DC Open, which brought his ranking to 32nd (a career best).
Kostyuk will arrive in the Japanese capital after being knocked out in the second round in Guadalajara this week and is in dire need of improving his game.
Kostyuk defeats Kasatkina in personal matches with a score of 2:1. The Ukrainian tennis player won her first two matches at the US Open 2020 and Istanbul 2021. The Russian earned her first victory against Kostyuk 6-2, 7-5 in their last meeting in Birmingham in 2021.
Forecast for the match Daria Kasatkina – Marta Kostyuk
Although Kostyuk has beaten Kasatkina twice, his current form doesn’t inspire much confidence.
The hyper-aggressive Ukrainian could have become a dangerous opponent for Kasatkina at some point, given her excellent powerful play on the backline. However, during matches, Kostyuk continues to blow hot and cold, as evidenced by the fact that in the last five tournaments she has won only two matches.
Kasatkina has been much more solid and stable this season. Although she lacks power, the former world number eight more than makes up for it with variety and finesse, as well as excellent defensive skills.
Forecast: Kasatkina wins in straight sets.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
