OREANDA-NEWS   Russian women’s tennis number one Daria Kasatkina celebrated one of the biggest wins of her career at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, beating 2022 French Open finalist Coco Gauff.

The number eight seed at the competition beat the number four seed in straight sets by a score of 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the round robin Tracy Austin Group. If she wins against Caroline Garcia on Saturday, she can advance to the semi-finals.

“It was tough,” Kasatkina commented post-match. “I was nervous at the beginning ... With the rhythm of the match, nerves disappear a little bit and start to be better. So I’m really happy to be in the next round, still alive.”

Kasatkina played a tidy game against Gauff by hitting 14 winners to match 14 unforced errors. Looking certain to lose the first set when trailing 4-1, she came back to 6-5 and forced a tie break in which she eventually prevailed, despite falling behind 3-0.

With momentum on her side in the second set, Kasatkina won 6-3 to secure her third career victory over Gauff. It was also her 25th victory on hardcourt in 2022, her highest yet.

Winning the first set seems to be the key to victory for Kasatkina, who is 29-0 this year after doing so. Recovering from a loss to world number one Iga Swiatek on Tuesday, she praised the WTA Finals’ format and looked forward to the Garcia match.

“This is exactly what we face every single week,” Kasatkina said, when asked about the Garcia match. “If you win, you advance, if you lose, you go home ... So it’s gonna be fun. The last tournament of the season for me and facing this kind of situation.”

“Normally if you lost, you’re just like, ‘OK, the tournament is done,’ I pack my bags and I go to the airport,” Kasatkina added. “Here is completely different. I had to push myself to practice the next day like nothing happened and prepare for the next match.

“That was interesting. I felt unusual, let’s say, but pretty happy how I handled the situation, which was quite new for me,” the world number eight said, with regards to bouncing back after the Swiatek loss.