The long-awaited success of Kasatkina

The past week turned out to be incredible for Russian tennis players, who performed extremely well in the North American series of tournaments.

First, Daniil Medvedev excelled in Los Cabos.

And after double success in San Jose and Washington, respectively, Daria Kasatkina and Lyudmila Samsonova achieved.

Both girls lost in the first sets, but showed character and won strong-willed victories.

For both, their importance is difficult to overestimate.

The country's No. 1 has recently been plagued by setbacks in terms of title battling.

In the current season, although she showed good results, she could not get to the decisive confrontation, at best, stopping a step away from it.

This happened in Melbourne, Sydney, Rome and at Roland Garros.

She won the last trophy back in March 2021, when she was the strongest in St. Petersburg.

Then in the summer of that year, she managed to lose in the final in Birmingham and San Jose.

However, a new visit to California in 2022 brought her long-awaited success.

And it turned out to be completely deserved, since Daria passed the competition in one breath and took over many strong rivals.

In the first round, she sent home the winner of Wimbledon Elena Rybakina, in the quarterfinals she dealt with the fourth seeded Arina Sobolenko, and in the semifinals with the second seeded Paula Badosa.

The Russian woman has repeatedly demonstrated both excellent physical shape and the presence of an enviable character.

In confrontations with the representatives of Kazakhstan and Belarus, she suffered defeats in the first sets, but found the strength to make a comeback.

Tired rivals could not oppose anything to the powerful game of Kasatkina.

The same thing happened in the final.

Like a year ago, the domestic athlete got along with a local tennis player.

Only then Daniel Collins was in place of the 30th racket of the planet Shelby Rogers.

As in 2021, she lost the first game.

Moreover, the defeat turned out to be extremely offensive: Daria led 5:3 and even served for a set, but allowed her opponent to return to the game and confidently take over in a tie-break.

But after the break, Kasatkina, having adjusted the pitch and feeling self-confident, completely reigned on the court.

The American played the role of only a sparring partner and, having taken only three games, gave up.

At that moment, the exhausted and happy Russian woman collapsed onto the court and covered her face with her hands.

Local fans greeted Kasatkina's success very warmly.

They supported her throughout the tournament, and during the presentation of the trophy they staged a real standing ovation.

Daria deserved this applause, becoming the first tennis player after Serena Williams herself to reach the finals in San Jose twice in a row.

More importantly, the Moscow native won the fifth trophy in her career and her debut this season.

This allowed her to climb to ninth in the WTA rankings for the first time in her life and return to the top 10 three years later.

Moreover, in the championship race, she is in third place, behind only Iga Sviontek and Ons Zhaber. 

“My fifth incredible week in San Jose.

Thank you all for your support.

And a special thanks to my team.

See you in Toronto, ”Kasatkina wrote on social networks.

History of overcoming Samsonova

If the success of the first racket of the country did not come as a surprise, then Lyudmila Samsonova in Washington managed to surprise in a good way.

Unlike her compatriot, she never grabbed the stars from heaven and at first did not please with good results.

If Kasatkina won tournaments from a young age and moved up in the WTA rankings, then Samsonova was not even in the top 100 back in 2020.

The Russian woman achieved her first serious successes back in 2021, when she climbed into the top 40 and won the competition in Berlin.

And now, after almost a year, she took the long-awaited second trophy, excelling in Washington on hard.

Like Kasatkina, Samsonova had to show character during the tournament.

For example, in the second round, she lost the first game to Ayla Tomlyanovic, but then she pulled herself together and left the Australian no chance - 4:6, 6:3, 6:2.

In other matches, not counting the final, Lyudmila did not give up a set to her rivals.

Moreover, in the very first meeting, she managed to knock out the fifth seeded Elise Mertens from the fight, and in the quarterfinals, the second seeded Emma Radukana.

After a series of confident victories, the domestic athlete had no right to lose in the decisive confrontation with Kaya Kanepi.

But, like Kasatkina, to win the trophy, she had to make a lot of efforts and turn the tide of an unsuccessful game.

In the first set, with a score of 4:5, the Russian woman suddenly got nervous on her serve and, having made a number of gross mistakes, gave it to her opponent.

She seemed psychologically unable to cope with the pressure.

It became especially disturbing when the 37-year-old Estonian almost made another break in the next game.

But after that, Samsonova got together and did not allow more blots.

She immediately took the opponent's serve, and in the ninth game she put an end to it - 6:3.

The final set developed according to a similar scenario, and again Samsonova turned out to be stronger - 6:3. 

“I think this match was the most difficult of the week because Kaia played great.

She had great pitches.

It was not easy to figure out how to fight them off.

Psychologically, the game came out tough, and I am very glad that I found the right solutions, ”the WTA official website quotes the words of the athlete.

The long-awaited victory will allow her to return to the top 50 in women's tennis for the first time in a long time.

In the updated WTA ranking, she is in 42nd place.

But in the case of Samsonova, appetite comes with eating.

And it is no coincidence that at the awards ceremony she said that she intends to successfully perform at the US Open.