Tears in Ningbo and double-duty in Osaka…
I think in terms of consistency, this year was [my] best one. Mentally, outside of the court as well, so I’m pretty happy with myself, the way we’re doing our job, and how things are going. There’s nothing to complain about, for sure. Daria Kasatkina
China | WTA 500 Ningbo Open
A distraught Mirra Andreeva was consoled by Ningbo champion Daria Kasatkina after the final on Sunday. Kasatkina emerged victorious after a 1 hour 54 minute battle against her 17-year-old Russian compatriot, 6-0 4-6 6-4.
“It’s been a very, very tough week, honestly,” Kasatkina said after landing the win. “All the matches were super tough. In the quarter-final I came back from two match points down, and today from 3-0, almost 4-0 [down] in the third set.”
So this trophy means a lot, because I worked on many challenges during this week, and I’m really proud of myself.”
In their maiden WTA Tour-level meeting, 5th-seeded Kasatkina raced out of the blocks, firing a rally forehand crosscourt to win her 3rd straight close game for a 3-0 lead.
From there, Kasatkina cruised to a comprehensive opening bagel, and led 1-0 in the second, but Andreeva, the World No 19, turned the tables, reeling off 4 games in a row to move ahead, 4-1.
Kasatkina battled back to 4-4, but she could only make one winner in the set, and Andreeva levelled affairs by taking the next 2 games.
“In the first set, I gave everything, I was super focused, and the level was so high,” Kasatkina said. “But, obviously, after that, I dropped a little bit, and Mirra was already there, ready to take it over.
“She’s this kind of player who never gives up, and to win any point, you have to almost die on court. It was the case, and honestly I feel like it’s a miracle, the third set.”
Andreeva kept her momentum going and led 3-0 in the decider, but there were more twists to come as Kasatkina regained the range on her heavy groundstrokes, and she took the next 5 games to move ahead 5-3.
A pair of wide errors by Andreeva in the last points of the day wrapped up a hard-fought win for Kasatkina, who was mostly rock-solid on break points in the championship final, converting 7 of her 8 chances.
Kasatkina had had to battle back from 0-3 down in the decider, and was on the verge of going 0-4 down, but she displayed her remarkable powers of recovery to win the topsy-turvy showdown between Top 20 players.
It proved to be her day as the former World No 8, who is currently ranked 11, captured the 8th WTA singles title of her career, with 6 of those coming on hard court.
Kasatkina has been a match-winning machine at this year’s WTA 500 events, making 6 finals this year at that level, and took the title at Eastbourne, and now moving into the winner’s circle again with her Ningbo triumph.
“I think in terms of consistency, this year was [my] best one,” Kasatkina said. “Mentally, outside of the court as well, so I’m pretty happy with myself, the way we’re doing our job, and how things are going. There’s nothing to complain about, for sure.”
During the trophy presentation ceremony, Mirra Andreeva could not contain her disappointment, and she broke down in tears on stage while delivering her speech.
On seeing her compatriot in emotional distress, Kasatkina made her way to the 17-year-old and the two shared a long embrace.
Andreeva was looking to win her 2nd WTA Tour-level title, having won the Iasi Open, a WTA 250 event in Iasi, Romania, in July this year.
Arguably, though, her most impressive result on tour this season was her shock quarter-final win over World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 French Open.
Ahead of the final, Andreeva had spoken up about her close relationship with Kasatkina, and how facing her 27-year-old compatriot would be a difficult prospect.
Those who follow Kasatkina’s ‘What the Vlog’ will know about their bond, as Andreeva often appears on the channel run by Dasha and her partner, Natalia Zabiiako, who was seen on court afterwards as the pair shared an embrace.
Andreeva’s win-loss record on the WTA Tour this season now stands at 34-15, while Kasatkina’s is 39-21 for the year.
Chinese fans saw one of their home players capture the Ningbo Open doubles title on Sunday, as China’s Yuan Yue paired with the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs to lift the trophy.
Teaming up for the very first time this week, Schuurs & Yuan defeated American Nicole Melichar-Martinez & Ellen Perez from Australia, the No 1 seeds, 6-3 6-3, in a 68-minute final, with the champions saving all 4 break points they faced in the final.
On her home soil, Yuan won her first career WTA doubles title, while doubles stalwart Schuurs has won 19 career doubles titles on the Hologic WTA Tour.
In Osaka, Suzan Lamens of The Netherlands, ranked 125 in the world, captured her first career Hologic WTA Tour title on Sunday after defeating Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, ranked 150, in the final, 6-0 6-4, which was a contest between two qualifiers.
25-year old Lamens is the 2nd qualifier to win a tour-level title this season, following Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal, who lifted the trophy in Monastir last month, and she is the 1st qualifier to win Osaka since Zarina Diyas in 2017.
Sunday’s final was the 5th all-qualifier tour-level final since 1990, and the first since Germany’s Tatjana Maria defeated Laura Pigossi from Brazil to win the 2022 Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Colombia.
Lamens lost just 1 set across her 7 matches in Osaka, and will make her Top 100 debut on the PIF WTA Rankings on Monday.
Entering the tournament, she registered just two Top 100 wins in her career at the tour-level, both coming on clay, while, in Osaka, she earned her first three Top 100 wins on a hard court, upsetting Viktoriya Tomova, the Bulgarian 4th seed, Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, and the No 7 seed, Diane Parry from France.
Both Lamens and Birrell had to pull double duty on Sunday after rain washed out both semi-finals on Saturday.
Lamens began the day with a 6-2 6-4 win over Parry, before Birrell matched her with a 6-4 6-3 win over 20-year old Japanese lucky loser, Aoi Ito, to also advance to her first WTA final.
Facing each other for the first time, Lamens raced through the first set in just 21 minutes.
Birrell got on the board in the 7th game of the match, and broke to lead 3-2 in the second set, but Lamens proved too steady from the baseline, and broke to love to get back on serve before breaking the Aussie for the 6th time in the match to seal the 73-minute victory.
In the doubles final, Japan’s Ena Shibahara & Laura Siegemund from Germany, the No 3 seeds, defeated Spain’s Cristina Bucsa & Monica Niculescu from Romania, the 3rd seeds, 3-6 6-2 [10-2], in an hour and 36 minutes to take the title.
