WHAT HAPPENED: Things looked bleak for Daria Kasatkina. Her opponent, Sofia Kenin, was rolling. Her serve was deserting her. The match was slipping away.
But Kasatkina has a well-earned reputation as a battler, and Thursday evening in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the No. 13 seed put her grit on full display, fighting back from a near-certain loss to post a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory and advance to the third round.
“It was a very difficult match,” Kasatkina said on court afterward. “It was a tough beginning of the match. But I was always there. That was the key—you always have to win two sets to win the match, and I knew at some point I would have a chance to come back.”
That prospect seemed dim early in this one. Kenin, who has struggled with injuries and inconsistency since her 2020 Australian Open title, was on fire from the outset. She rolled to a 5-0 lead in just 17 minutes, claimed that frame two games later and went up the early break in the second set.
Then, it all came apart. Kasatkina’s whipping forehands began to find their mark, and her trademark backhand stayed steady and true. A 3-1 second-set deficit transformed into a 4-3 advantage, and Kasatkina secured the set when a Kenin forehand sailed long.
That set the stage for a topsy-turvy decider, the two women trading leads and frequent breaks of serve—13 in total for the match, six in the final set alone.
In all, six of the third set’s 10 games went to deuce. Kenin led 1-0 and 3-2, Kasatkina 2-1 and 4-3. Kasatkina extended her advantage to 5-3 with another break of serve, and after dropping her own while serving for the match, finished the match with a final break—victory secured when a Kenin sent a forehand flying wide.
WHAT IT MEANS: Kasatkina has struggled in recent US Opens, so this victory will be sweet. She advanced to the fourth round in Flushing Meadows in 2017 but lost in the first round in 2019, 2020 and again last year, sandwiched around a run to the third round in 2021.
Next up for her will be the winner of Thursday’s matchup between Greet Minnen, the 26-year-old Belgian who eliminated Venus Williams in the opening round, and Sachia Vickery, the 204th-ranked American qualifier who is seeking her first Grand Slam third-round showing at age 28.
Meantime, it will be a difficult loss to swallow for the hyper-competitive Kenin. The former world No. 4 has endured a difficult three years, felled by appendicitis in 2021 and last year by an ankle injury that kept her off the tour for five months and knocked her out of the Top 300.
Kenin showed flashes at Wimbledon, however, knocking out Coco Gauff in the first round. But the injury bug bit again this summer. She had to pull out of Washington, D.C., with a left thigh injury, and she required treatment for the thigh in the third set of this match.
MATCH POINT: Kasatkina has not made life easy for herself at this year’s US Open. She also fell behind to an American in the first round, bouncing back in that one to oust Alycia Parks, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Potentially awaiting her in the Round of 16 would be her sternest test yet: 2023 Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.
