Tennis News: Fifth seed Daria Kasatkina is the winner for the first time in over a month at the Open in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The fifth seed began her Ostrava Open campaign with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Britain’s Emma Raducanu.

Competing for the first time since being knocked out of the US Open in the first round five weeks ago, the world number 11 needed 1 hour 31 minutes to beat the 2021 US Open champion Raducanu when they first met.

The 25-year-old last won when she crushed Daria Saville to win the title in Granby, Canada in late August. A few days later, he lost in the US Open first round to Harriet Dart and the Ostrava Open opener was his first match since then.

While the rust on his game was a little visible, the fifth seed found his best level of play as the game went on. After coming through a difficult first set, he dropped just eight points in five service games in the second set.

“This tournament is very difficult, when you look at the list of players competing here,” admitted Kasatkina. “Whoever you are up against is a very tough opponent, so you have to be really focused and ready from the first point, the first game, the first game. I’m happy with my performance this time and really excited for the next game.”

Coming into the Ostrava Open in seventh place in the standings ahead of the WTA Finals, the world No. 11’s efforts this week could prove crucial in qualifying for the season-ending tournament. But he said he was not concerned with number games.

“There are only a few tournaments left and everyone wants to win, everyone wants to show their best game at the end of the season. Hopefully I can do it and we’ll see what happens,” Kasatkina added.

When asked if he regularly watches the leaderboard points, Kasatkina replied: “I used to do that, but now I realize that it takes too much energy, so I give up. “

Aiming for a place in the quarter-finals of the Ostrava Open, Kasatkina will face compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova for the fourth time. The fifth seed leads in their head to head 2-1, notably winning their last meeting in Berlin this summer.

Tags: Tennis, Ostrava Open, Daria Kasatkina, Emma Raducanu

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