By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday April 7, 2023
Kasatkina rallied past Madison Keys to book her spot in the Charleston semifinals, where Ons Jabeur waits.
Photo Source: AP
Daria Kasatkina entered her tenth meeting with American Madison Keys with trepidation, but the Russian was able to rise above her doubts to win a battle of former Charleston champions on Friday.
Kasatkina pulled away from Keys to win their tenth career meeting – and first on clay – 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2. The Russian improves to 2-8 lifetime against Keys, but 1-0 on clay.
“To be honest, my expectations before the match were not high,” Kasatkina said after her win. “Our head-to-head obviously is not on my side, but probably that actually helped me because I was there from the first point from the beginning.”
The 25-year-old World No.8 says mentality was the key to the victory, especially after losing a difficult opening set – one in which she had chances to win. She earned 24 break points in the contest, and converted 10.
“Mentally I was there,” she said. “Madison, she's tough for everyone. Not just for me if her game goes her way, it's very difficult to stop her but I knew that on clay I would have more chances, because I've got more time and the bounces are higher and not perfect like on hard courts.
“I'm really happy with the mental effort I've done after the first set, because it was a really tough one, we played almost an hour and 20 minutes and I had many chances to close the set.”
Keys struggled with a physical issue and was not able to produce her typically menacing serve.
“Everyone saw that Madison wasn't serving her 100 percent,” Kasatkina said. “So that makes it easier, of course. Plus, it's a clay court. The balls are getting bigger, so the surf is not that big of an advantage like on a hard court. I mean, this is my game. I am trying to put a lot of pressure on the return of the girl and today it was working really well.”
Looking Ahead to Jabeur, and Erasing Some Heartbreak
Kasatkina first reaction to a question about her semifinal opponent, No.2-seeded Ons Jabeur?
“She is back,” she said.
Jabeur has won four straight against Kasatkina (Head-to-head: Jabeur leads 4-2), including a memorable cliffhangerH last year at Rome, which Kasatkina can’t seem to forget.
“I mean, it’s tough… our last match,” she said. “Not good memories from the last match on clay actually in Rome, losing from match point – I will never forget that. Inside-out touching the line like that on my match point.”
But the Russian, like so many of Jabeur’s peers on the WTA Tour, has immense respect for the Tunisian trailblazer.
“Everyone knows that Ons is great,” she said. “Everyone loves Ons. Of course on the court we’re opponents and everything but it's always nice to share these moments like playing semi-finals, the big stages of the tournament against each other. Of course, always, someone has to win, someone has to lose, but in the end I'm pretty sure that after our careers, we're gonna remember those matches, those match points, those forehands, and that’s great.”