Australia’s overnight superstar tennis import Daria Kasatkina has launched her new life embracing the green-and-gold with an emphatic win at the Charleston Open – and a beaming smile of relief.
Five days after shocking the sport by announcing she was switching her allegiance from her native Russia, the world No.12 demonstrated what an asset she’ll be as her adopted country’s new No.1 as she completely outclassed American Lauren Davis 6-1 6-1 in her first official match as an Australian.
But Kasatkina admitted after her cakewalk that she had felt nerve-racked about her first appearance “under a new flag” after a couple of tough years when being gay and an outspoken critic of the invasion of Ukraine meant she felt she had no choice but to abandon Russia if she wanted to be herself.
Kasatkina had declared how emotional and excited she felt about her move after her application for permanent Australian residency had been accepted by the government, and she celebrated on Wednesday with an efficient triumph in a minute over one hour.
Kasatkina demonstrated why she’s the best woman player to represent Australia since former world No.1 Ash Barty called it a day, the world No.12 sweeping into a 5-0 lead against world No.211 for the loss of just nine points on Charleston’s famous green clay.
It’s an event that means so much to the 27-year-old, who made this the first of her eight tournament triumphs back in 2017 when she was still a teenager and who also reached last year’s final.
In a different league to Davis, a 31-year-old who won her first tournament in Hobart at the start of the year, Kasatkina’s only blip came at the start of the second set when, in complete control, she delivered three-straight double faults in a row – a weakness that’s afflicted her game for years – to gift a break to Davis.
But the fifth seed overcame that woeful game to break immediately again in the next game and quickly re-establish her mastery, setting up a much tougher last-16 contest with either 17th seed Belinda Bencic or former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin.
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