The 5th-seeded Daria Kasatkina (Russia) qualified for the second round of the WTA 500 Ostrava Open (Czech Republic) with a prize fund of 757,900 USD.
Daria Kasatkina eliminated the US Open 2021 champion Emma Raducanu with 2-0 (7:5, 6:4) in a match that lasted 1:32 hours. The next opponent of the Russian tennis player, who is aiming for participation in the WTA finals this year, is her compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Emma Raducanu, currently ranked 67th in the women’s world rankings, made too many mistakes at key moments of the match. She allowed a break at the start but tied for 2:2 in the first set. Another exchange of breaks followed until 5:5, but Daria Kasatkina was more stable at the end and reached 7:5. In the second part, the Russian struck a decisive blow for a lead of 3:2 and kept her advance.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus defeated the 8th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:2) and in the second round of the competition will play against the Wimbledon 2022 champion Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.
The American Caty McNally, who started from the qualifiers, defeated Anna Blinkova (Russia) with 2-0 (6:1, 6:2).
