Daria Kasatkina is off to a victorious start to her journey as an Australian player after destroying world No. 211 Lauren Davis 6-1 6-1 in Charleston.
Over the weekend, the world No. 12 announced she would no longer represent Russia and switch to representing Australia.
In Charleston, Kasatkina had a first-round bye as the No. 5 seed. And when she hit the court today, she was outstanding as she got the job done in just an hour and one minute of play. The new top-ranked Australian female tennis player impressively created nine break points and realized six, while losing her serve only once during the match.
After easily getting through her opener, Kasatkina could face a very difficult task in the round-of-16. Later today, Belinda Bencic plays against Sofia Kenin. If Bencic wins, there is no doubt that the meeting between the new Australian player and the Swiss would be the highlight of Charleston’s round-of-16 action.
Kasatkina handled her emotions well in her Charleston opener
When speaking to the press in Charleston, the 27-year-old admitted that playing her first match as an Australian player would be emotional. For some players, it would create pressure and possibly lead to a bad performance. But the No. 5 seed handled her job as well as she could have.
In her pre-tournament presser, Kasatkina also admitted that she had to change her nationality after coming out as gay and also calling out the Russian government.
“With everything going on in my previous country, I didn’t have much choice [to switch allegiance]. For me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I have to make this step, and I did it. I have to get used to it a little bit, because for a couple of years I didn’t hear anything. But it’s something nice to get used to,” Kasatkina said a few days ago.
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