Kasatkina overcomes Kostyuk in Tokyo first spherical

No.6 seed Daria Kasatkina survived a scare from Marta Kostyuk earlier than advancing 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours and 24 minutes to the second spherical of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

Taking part in for the primary time since her US Open fourth-round loss to Aryna Sabalenka, Kasatkina wanted to make use of the breadth of her tactical repertoire to show the match round. The outcome levelled her head-to-head in opposition to Kostyuk at two wins apiece; this was the primary version of their rivalry to have gone to 3 units.

Highlights: Papamichail d. Hosogi

Kasatkina will subsequent play No.220-ranked Despina Papamichail after the Greek qualifier edged fortunate loser Sakura Hosogi 7-6(3), 7-5 in 2 hours and 19 minutes. Dwelling hope Hosogi was enjoying her first WTA foremost draw, and impressed together with her all-court play, however Papamichail’s solidity in the end proved decisive.

How the match was gained: Kostyuk raced out of the blocks, smothering Kasatkina with quickfire factors and an aggressive technique that noticed her come forwards at each alternative. Kasatkina was given few probabilities to search out her rhythm, and was repeatedly let down by an errant backhand as she tallied 38 unforced errors to solely 11 winners over the primary two units.

However, having performed a clear first set wherein she had conceded solely eight factors on serve, Kostyuk’s consistency started to slide in a second set which noticed 9 service breaks in 10 video games. The Ukrainian went up a break 3 times, however her personal mounting error depend meant that she was unable to consolidate. Down set level, a Kostyuk overhead bounced off the tape and into the tramlines, encapsulating a passage of play wherein Kasatkina had refused to buckle.

Kasatkina didn’t really discover her groove till the deciding set, however as soon as she did performed a few of her most spectacular tennis of the day. In her consolation zone of prolonged rallies, the 26-year-old got here up with a collection of good passing pictures, with a flick off a sidespun Kostyuk volley within the fourth sport drawing gasps from the Tokyo crowd.

Kostyuk had her share of scorching pictures, too, together with a finely angled backhand to finish a protracted baseline trade, however was once more unable to keep up her leads. The 21-year-old led by a break twice, and as within the second set was instantly damaged again each occasions. One other overhead error down break level noticed Kasatkina stage at 3-3, in the end reeling off the final 4 video games of the match.

Doi delivers victory in farewell occasion: This week marks the ultimate match of former World No.30 Misaki Doi’s skilled profession. The 32-year-old introduced final month that she would bid farewell to the game on dwelling soil resulting from a persistent again damage.

Having efficiently certified, an impressed Doi rolled again the years to upset No.49-ranked Petra Martic 7-5, 6-2 within the first spherical. The outcome was her first tour-level win since July 2022, when she defeated Oksana Selekhmeteva within the first spherical of Hamburg, and her first Prime 50 victory since besting Zheng Saisai within the first spherical of Doha 2021. Much more meaningfully, it was simply Doi’s second main-draw win in Tokyo, and first since defeating Varvara Lepchenko within the 2013 first spherical.

Highlights: Doi d. Martic

After discovering her fast 4-1 lead pegged again to 5-5, Doi edged the primary set thanks largely to a profitable problem within the remaining sport. A superb passing shot at full stretch had been referred to as out, however turned out to have simply grazed the road for a clear winner.

Having survived to combat one other day, Doi will lengthen her profession with a second-round tilt in opposition to No.4 seed and freshly-crowned Guadalajara champion Maria Sakkari.

Pavlyuchenkova, Noskova, Alexandrova advance: Different first-round winners on Day 2 included two-time finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who routed Donna Vekic 6-1, 6-1 in simply 74 minutes; 19-year-old Linda Noskova, who saved one set level within the second set earlier than coming by way of 6-2, 7-5 in opposition to Japanese fortunate loser Himeno Sakatsume; and Ekaterina Alexandrova, who edged wild card Anna Kalinskaya 6-7(7), 6-1, 7-5 in 2 hours and 21 minutes.

Highlights: Noskova d. Sakatsume | Alexandrova d. Kalinskaya

Alexandrova will subsequent play defending champion Liudmila Samsonova, whereas Noskova and Pavlyuchenkova will sq. off for a quarterfinal place.