Google News Daria Kasatkina: I was lost with lights and wind, then found way to play more safe
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 1588
Daria Kasatkina admitted the conditions were causing her trouble at the start of her Abu Dhabi match against Jil Teichmann but then adjusted and completely turned around the match. Kasatkina, seeded at No 1, had a first-round bye in Abu Dhabi before taking on Teichmann in the round-of-16.
Kasatkina got off to a very rough start to the match as Teichmann easily won the first set before the Russian stormed back to win 1-6 6-0 6-2. "In these tough conditions with the wind, as soon as you lose a little bit of focus the game can change completely, and this is what happened at the beginning.
I was a little bit lost with the lights, with the wind but then I found a way to play more safe," Kasatkina said, per the WTA website.
How Kasatkina beat Teichmann
Teichmann, who entered the match as the underdog, started the match with back-to-back breaks and a 4-0 lead.
In the fifth game, Kasatkina had her first two break points of the match but didn't realize as Teichmann opened a 5-0 lead. After losing the first five games of the match, Kasatkina finally got on the board after serving out the sixth game to cut the deficit to 5-1.
However, it didn't change much as Teichmann routinely served out for the opener in the seventh game. After easily losing the first set, Kasatkina looked like a completely different player in the second set as she broke Teichmann three times and didn't face a single break point.
In the third set, Kasatkina was twice up by a break but Teichmann twice recovered. But after Teichmann broke back Kasatkina in the fifth game to cut the deficit to 3-2, the Russian responded by earning her third break of the set in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead.
Kasatkina served out the seventh game to open a 5-2 lead, before breaking Teichmann again in the following game to complete her big comeback win. It was the third meeting between Kasatkina and Teichmann. After beating Teichmann in Abu Dhabi, Kasatkina improved her head-to-head against the Swiss to 3-0.
