Daria Kasatkina

Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (Russian: Дарья Сергеевна Касаткина; born 7 May 1997) is a Russian tennis player. On 15 August 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 24 and her best doubles ranking of world number 43.
Kasatkina, coached by Vladimir Platenik from Slovakia, has won seven singles titles on the ITF tour and one WTA doubles title on in her career. She also won the girls' singles tournament at the French Open in June 2014, defeating Ivana Jorović in three sets in the final. Kasatkina was part of the Russia team that won the Junior Fed Cup in 2013.

Early life

Daria was born 7 May 1997 in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. Her father Sergey works at the Volga Automobile Plant, and her mother Tatyana is a house wife. Tatyana and Sergey are both Candidates for Master of Sports—Tatyana in athletics and Sergey in ice hockey. Her brother Aleksandr brought her to tennis.

Kasatkina took the racket at age six. When she was 11 she was coached by Maxim Prasolov. Three years later her new coach became Damir Rishatovich Nurgaliev, a well-known tennis coach in the Samara Oblast. The fourteen-years old won her first tournament at the fourth-graded Samara Cup. A year later she debuted at Grand Slam junior tournaments. The Russia team of Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova and Aleksandra Pospelova won the Junior Fed Cup in 2013 defeating Australia in final in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

She started her professional career in 2013. Within a year, from year-end 2014 to 2015, Kasatkina jumped 300 ranking positions.

In 2014 she won the junior Grand Slam title at the French Open defeating Ivana Jorović in the final, 6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–3.

2015: Grand Slam debut, first WTA doubles title

Kasatkina made her senior Grand Slam debut at the US Open in the main draw as a lucky loser in 2015, after Maria Sharapova withdrew due to injury. She beat Daria Gavrilova and Ana Konjuh to make the third round, losing to Kristina Mladenovic. She won her first career doubles title at the 2015 Kremlin Cup with Elena Vesnina. She also reached semifinals in singles as a qualifier, defeating Carla Suárez Navarro in the quarterfinals before falling to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

2016: First Top-10 win, Fed Cup debut

At the 2016 ASB Classic, Kasatkina scored the biggest victory of her career, defeating defending champion, seven-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one Venus Williams in the first round in three sets. But in the second round she lost to Japanase Nao Hibino in tight three sets. At the Australian Open she was drawn against 27th seed Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the first round and won in straight sets. She then won in straight sets over Konjuh in the second round, but lost to world no. 1 Serena Williams in the third round in 44 minutes.

Kasatkina debuted at the 2016 Fed Cup against the Netherlands in the first round, winning the dead rubber in doubles with Ekaterina Makarova. Then, in St. Petersburg, she had the best result among the Russian participants, reaching the semifinals in singles, falling to Belinda Bencic.

At the 2016 Qatar Total Open, Kasatkina and doubles partner Elena Vesnina rematched No. 1 duo Hingis/Mirza, whom they previously lost to in St. Petersburg. The Russian duo also broke the best-ranked duo's winning-streak record of 41 winning matches in a row.

Following this, Kasatkina debuted at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open where she reached her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal with wins over Daniela Hantuchová, Anna-Lena Friedsam, Mónica Puig and twelfth seed Timea Bacsinszky before falling to eighteenth seed Karolína Plíšková in straight sets. Kasatkina also paired up with compatriot Elena Vesnina in the doubles but the pair lost in the second round to eventual finalists Karolína Plíšková and Julia Görges in three sets. Following this tournament, Kasatkina reached a career high in singles and doubles.

The next tournament Kasatkina entered for was the 2016 Miami Open where she defeated Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round. In the second round she lost to Simona Halep. Kasatkina's rankings in singles and doubles again reached a new career high.

In Charleston, Kasatkina won her 100th match in WTA and ITF combined, by defeating the Chinese Zheng Saisai in straight sets. She reached the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by eventual champion Sloane Stephens.

At the 2016 French Open, Kasatkina won her first two matches in three sets. She beat Anna-Lena Friedsam and Virginie Razzano in the first two rounds. In the third round, she lost to Kiki Bertens in a hard fought three set match, 2–6, 6–3, 8–10.

Kasatkina again reached the 3rd round of a Grand Slam at Wimbledon. Venus Williams returned the favour in three tight sets. Shortly before the matchball for Williams it began to shower.

Kasatkina reached her second Premier quarterfinal at the Rogers Cup, losing there to Angelique Kerber. On the way she beat 13th-seeded Samantha Stosur and 7th-seeded Roberta Vinci. She has qualified for the Olympic Games in singles, and in doubles she replaced injured Margarita Gasparyan to team up with Kuznetsova. In her first Olympics, she has beaten youngster Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in three sets. In the second record she easily beat Saisai Zheng and recorded her third win in Rio with a two setter against Sara Errani. She lost against seventh seed Madison Keys in the quarterfinal. In the doubles she paired with Svetlana Kuznetsova. The duo has lost in the quarterfinal to the Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.

2017: Number One Defeat

Kasatkina started the new season in Brisbane, getting there to the second round before being defeated by Garbiñe Muguruza. She reached the quarterfinals of the Sydney International, defeating a number one, Angelique Kerber, for the first time. In doubles she tried a partnership with Irina-Camelia Begu in Brisbane, and since Sydney she continued partnering with Daria Gavrilova.

Kasatkina prefers watching men's over women's tennis, her favourite tennis player is Rafael Nadal. She also enjoys watching football, and is a fan of FC Barcelona.

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	23 October 2015	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Elena Vesnina	Irina-Camelia Begu Monica Niculescu	6–3, 6–7(7–9), [10–5]
Runner-up	1.	21 October 2016	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Daria Gavrilova	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–4, 0–6, [7–10]

Singles (7–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	27 January 2014	Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt	Hard	Pernilla Mendesová	6–3, 6–4
Winner	2.	15 September 2014	Telavi, Georgia	Clay	Jasmine Paolini	6–1, 4–6, [10–7]
Winner	3.	19 January 2015	Daytona Beach, United States	Clay	Elise Mertens	6–2, 4–6, 6–0
Winner	4.	18 May 2015	Caserta, Italy	Clay	İpek Soylu	7–6(7–4), 6–1
Winner	5.	8 June 2015	Minsk, Belarus	Clay	Ganna Poznikhirenko	4–3, ret.
Winner	6.	15 June 2015	Minsk, Belarus	Clay	Iryna Shymanovich	6–1, 6–1
Winner	7.	14 September 2015	Saint-Malo, France	Clay	Laura Siegemund	7–5, 7–6(7–4)

Doubles (0–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	25 May 2015	Moscow, Russia	Clay	Olga Ianchuk	Carolin Daniels Alyona Sotnikova	2–6, 6–7(10–12)
Runner-up	2.	8 June 2015	Minsk, Belarus	Clay	Olga Ianchuk	Valentyna Ivakhnenko Polina Monova	6–4, 0–6, [10–12]

Girls' Singles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2014	French Open	Clay	Ivana Jorović	6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–3

This Table is current through the 2016 Fed Cup

Singles (1–1)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Result	Team Result
2016 Fed Cup	WG PO	16 April 2016 Moscow, Russia	Belarus	Clay (i)	Aliaksandra Sasnovich	6–3, 3–6, 6–1	Win	Loss 2–3
		17 April 2016 Moscow, Russia			Victoria Azarenka	2–6, 7–5, 3–6	Loss

Doubles (2–0)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Partner	Opponents	W/L	Result	Team Result
2016 Fed Cup	WG QF	7 February 2016 Moscow, Russia	Netherlands	Hard (i)	Ekaterina Makarova	Cindy Burger/Arantxa Rus	Win	6–0, 6–2	Loss 1–3
2016 Fed Cup	WG PO	17 April 2016 Moscow, Russia	Belarus	Clay (i)	Elena Vesnina	Olga Govortsova/Aryna Sabalenka	Win	6–4, 6–2	Loss 2–3

Singles

Only Main Draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam Tournaments and Olympic Games are included in Win–Loss records.

This table is current through the 2017 Australian Open.

1 Before 2015 known as WTA Tournament of Champions.

Doubles

Only Main Draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam Tournaments and Olympic Games are included in Win–Loss records.

This table is current through the 2017 Australian Open.

1 Prior 2015 known as WTA Tournament of Champions.

Kasatkina's match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10 with those who have been No. 1 in boldface

Top 10 wins

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Round	Score
2016
1.	Venus Williams	No. 7	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	1st Round	6–7, 6–3, 6–3
2.	Roberta Vinci	No. 8	Montréal, Canada	Hard	3rd Round	7–5, 6–3
2017
3.	Angelique Kerber	No. 1	Sydney, Australia	Hard	2nd Round	7–6(7–5), 6–2

• Russian Cup: 2014 Junior of the Year
• WTA Breakthrough of the Month – Thrice nominated for January, February and March 2016.

• Дарья Касаткина и Андрей Рублёв стали обладателями премии "Русский Кубок" в номинации "Юниор года". GoTennis (in Russian). 10 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.