Daria Kasatkina shows off her championship trophy at the podium of the San Jose State Tennis Center on Sunday AUG 7, 2022. (Sports Radio Service)
by Marko Ukalovic
SAN JOSE — Twice was the charm for Daria Kasatkina.
The 25-year-old Russian earned her first singles title of the year by defeating American Shelby Rogers in an exciting three set match 6-7 6-1 6-2 to win the sold out final of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic on Sunday afternoon at the San Jose State Tennis Center.
Kasatkina, who was a finalist at the MSVC last year, lost an epic first set to Rogers that lasted an hour and eighteen minutes. The set featured both players breaking serve twice with many of the games going back and forth in deuce battles.
Rogers won the tie-breaker 7-2 to claim the first set but wasn’t able to keep the momentum going in the second set. Kasatkina utilized her serve as well as her big weapon backhand to create winners or unforce errors by Rogers.
The turning point of the match was in the second set with Kasatkina up 4-1. The current 9th ranked player in the world was down 0-40 and fight her way back to win the next five points to take the game and eventually evening up the set one apiece.
“For sure that game helped me a lot,” said Kasatkina. “I felt good at that moment and that I would close out the set anyway. But when I came back in this game, at that moment I felt like I had to push right now and don’t give her a thing. It’s the kind of moments during the match when you’re not thinking about finishing the job, but when you have to push a little more to make it easier for the third set.”
Rogers suffered a wardrobe malfunction after the first game of the third set. The equipment out of adjustment rule was used so Rogers could switch out her old uniform for a new one that was quickly rushed out to her.
Kasatkina controlled the third set and cruised the rest of the way to the title winning the final six points of the match. When asked how she plans to celebrate her first title of the season Kasatkina said she has one bottle of sparkling wine but she’s not planning on popping it open.
“I’m not wasting it. I don’t like to waste important things. I’ll keep it and celebrate with my team,” Kasatkina said.
For Rogers, who played in her first singles final since 2016, that first ever title still eludes her since her career began in 2009. She is currently ranked 45th in the WTA rankings.
“I tried to do a different tactic of coming into the net a little bit to prepare me for the third set and to see if I could get a different rhythm going,” said Rogers. “She (Kasatkina) just really locked in and didn’t give me any free points.”
Rogers also said despite the outcome she is satisfied with her play and is looking forward to the rest of the hardcourt season.
“I was one set away, got one set closer (to winning the title). It was much better than the last time I played her (Kasatkina). So I’m really happy with a lot of the improvements I made today and just need to do it for a little bit longer,” Rogers said.
In the double finals earlier on in the day, the Chinese duo of Xu Yifan Yang Zhaoxuan took home their second doubles title of the year when they defeated the team of Chinese-Taipei’s Chang Hao-Ching and Japan’s Shuko Aoyama in straight sets 7-5 6-0.
The match was evenly played during the first set until Xu and Yang broke serve at 3-3 and then finished off the set breaking serve at 6-5.
The second set was dominated by Xu and Yang. At one point they won nine consecutive points as they didn’t lose a game to clinch their doubles championship.
“We were focused on every point,” said Yang. “We weren’t paying to attention to the score as much because I think it’s important to focus on our strategies and the mindset was our goal during the match.”
Xu and Yang also won the doubles title at Indian Wells back in March.
The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic tournament returns for it’s 52nd year in 2023 to the San Jose State Tennis Center from July 31-August 6.
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