Kasatkina cruises through
Moscow, Oct. 18: Russia’s Daria Kasatkina on Monday cruised into the second round of the Kremlin Cup, a joint WTA and ATP event, with a straight- sets win over fellow teenager Belinda Bencic.
The 19- year- old, ranked 24th in the world and seeded eighth in Moscow, won 6- 4, 6- 1 to level her head- to- head record with her Swiss rival at 1- 1.
Benchic broke early in the opening set but the local favourite, who is seeking her maiden title, broke back twice for a one- set lead in 38 minutes.
In the second Kasatkina underlined her domination on the hard court of Moscow’s Olympic indoor arena producing two more break to close out the match in just one hour.
“It was a very tough match and I’m really happy to win it,” Kasatkina said.
Earlier, Hungary’s ninth seed Timea Babos also advanced into the second round with a 6- 2, 6- 7 ( 2/ 7), 7- 5 win over Irina- Camelia Begu of Romania in a replay of this year’s Florianopolis WTA final.
Babos, ranked 26th, broke twice to take the opening set, while Begu won the second in a tiebreak.
The opponents traded breaks throughout the deciding set but Babos, 23, was the more precise of the two and claimed the set and the match in two hours 27 minutes to record her first win over Begu in their third meeting.
In the ATP section, Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci cruised comfortably into the second round seeing off Turkish wild card Cem Ilkel 7- 5, 6- 1, while Czech Lukas Rosol ousted Austria’s Gerald Melzer 7- 5, 6- 2.