By Tennis Now | Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Sputtering to a 2-7 start with double faults soaring and confidence shrinking, Daria Kasatkina knew she needed to jump-start her season.

Kasatkina surged through six of the last seven games edging Elise Mertens, 7-6 (8), 7-5, at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

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The 22nd-ranked Kasatkina started the season 0-4, parted with her perpetually-positive coach Philippe Dehaes, who guided her to the 2018 Indian Wells final, and saw her creative game mired in doldrums.

Today, Kasatkina showed the grit and problem-solving skill that carried her to a career-high rank of No. 10.

In a tense battle of Latvians, Anastasija Sevastova stopped 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.

The 29th-ranked Ostapenko played a pair of Fed Cup singles matches in Latvia’s 3-1 loss to visiting Germany in Riga last weekend, while Sevastova skipped the tie.

That added a stinging subtext to this match that pitted Sevastova’s savvy angles and mix of spins against Ostapenko’s flat strikes and down the line drives.

The 21-year-Ostapenko was out of answers in the decisive set. Following a frosty hand-shake, the seventh-seeded Sevastova moved on to a second-round encounter with 2017 champion Laura Siegemund.

The German wild card, sporting her familiar knee-high socks, jumped out to 5-1 leads in both sets sweeping Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2, 6-2, for her 14th victory in her last 17 Stuttgart matches, including qualifying.

Andrea Petkovic, who defeated Ostapenko at Fed Cup last weekend, was a 6-3, 6-4 victor over Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Wild card Petkovic powered into an all-German second-round clash with good friend Angelique Kerber, a two-time former champion.