Daria Kasatkina 5-7, 6-4, 8-10 Venus Williams
It was a battle between youth and experience, with Kasatkina being a newbie on tour and Venus being a veteran having won 7 Grand Slams in her career. They met only once previously, with Kasatkina upsetting Venus in 3 sets at Auckland for her 1st ever Top 10 win in their first match of 2016.
Williams started the set perfectly; holding her serve and proceeding to break Kasatkina’s serve comfortably to have the early advantage. Kasatkina finally won her 1st game of the match at 0-3 by holding her serve to love and get herself onto the scoreboard. Williams continued strolling through the match as she once again broke Kasatkina’s serve with some precise hitting to get a double break lead and an opportunity to serve out the set. A 25-minute rain delay halted play at 5-1 15-30, but when they returned from the delay, Kasatkina managed to break Williams’ serve for the first time in the match to keep her in the set for one more game at least. Kasatkina then held her serve to love again to lessen the deficit to just 2 games, and allow Williams to serve for the set for the 2nd time. Kasatkina continued her comeback as she broke Williams once again after a double fault to let the set return on serve and make the set wide open. After 34 minutes, it was all square again as Kasatkina managed to hold onto her service game. Williams finally closed out the set 7-5 after Kasatkina hit a forehand long on set point to gift the set away despite making a spirited comeback.
Williams held her serve at the start of the second set, saving a break point in the process to prevent Kasatkina to make the first breakthrough. Williams then looked on-course for a straight sets victory when she broke Kasatkina to lead by a set and a break. Kasatkina did not let Williams keep the advantage going on for long though, after she broke back immediately with some great return winners to let the 2nd set go back on serve. There was a 3rd straight break of serve in the 2nd set as Williams managed to break once again with her powerful groundstrokes which allowed her to dictate play. Nevertheless, Kasatkina once again broke back to keep herself alive in the match with a wonderfully executed dropshot on break point. Kasatkina then went on a run, winning the next 3 games to lead 5-3 and be a game away from levelling the match. Kasatkina did not disappoint her fans as she successfully served out the set 6-4 to level the match after 1 hours and 28 minutes.
After 6 consecutive holds of serve to start the final set with, it was Kasatkina who made the first breakthrough when she broke Williams’ serve after she managed to trouble her with her deep and powerful groundstrokes. The next game saw Williams breaking back immediately after saving a game point to level the match once again at 4-4. Kasatkina saved a match point on her serve with a wonderful forehand down the line winner and managed to hold her serve to let the match remain level. Kasatkina almost earned the next break at 6-6, but lost her way from 0-30 up to allow Williams to hold her service and keep the match on serve. There was another rain delay that lasted for more than 1 hours, but this time it was on a Williams’ match point which caused lots of discussion among the fans. Kasatkina maintained her composure and did not let the rain delay affect her as she held her service to remain in the match. Kasatkina held on until 9-8, where Williams’ powerful strokes managed to power through her and win the match after 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Williams
|
Kasatkina
| |
Aces
|
3
|
4
|
DFs
|
8
|
5
|
1st Serve
|
65%
|
63%
|
1st Serve Won
|
66%
|
63%
|
2nd Serve Won
|
47%
|
45%
|
Break Points
|
7/14
|
6/8
|
Net Points
|
23/32
|
8/9
|
Winners
|
35
|
37
|
Unforced Errors
|
41
|
37
|
Points Won
|
125
|
118
|