page_title: Daria Kasatkina
section_title: 2018: Indian Wells final, Kremlin Cup title, Russian No. 1, top 10
hierarchical_section_title: Daria Kasatkina / Professional career / 2018: Indian Wells final, Kremlin Cup title, Russian No. 1, top 10
caption_attribution_description: Daria Kasatkina
context_page_description: Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina is a Russian professional tennis player. She made her top 10 debut in the Women's Tennis Association rankings towards the end of the 2018 season. She has won two WTA titles in singles as well as one in doubles.
  Born to athletic parents who were nationally ranked in athletics and ice hockey, Kasatkina began playing tennis at age six at the insistence of her older brother. She excelled as a junior, winning the European 16s championship and one junior Grand Slam singles title at the 2014 French Open. Kasatkina quickly ascended up the professional rankings, reaching No. 32 in the world while still 18 years old and winning her first WTA title as a teenager at the Charleston Open. She rose to prominence in 2018 by finishing runner-up to fellow up-and-coming player Naomi Osaka at the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells Open in a match regarded as representing a new wave of women's tennis. Kasatkina also won the biggest title of her career at the Kremlin Cup at home in Russia towards the end of the season. Following three successful seasons on the WTA Tour, Kasatkina struggled in 2019, falling into the bottom half of the top 100.
context_section_description: Kasatkina continued her late season success from the previous year into 2018. After only winning one match between three tournaments in Australia, she reached the semifinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and then the final at the Dubai Tennis Championships, two Premier tournaments. In St. Petersburg, she notably defeated world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. In Dubai, she saved three match points en route to defeating another top 5 player in world No. 3 Garbiñe Muguruza, before losing to the defending champion and world No. 4 Elina Svitolina. Kasatkina's breakthrough came at the Indian Wells Open, where she reached her second final of the season. She defeated four top 15 players at the event including Wozniacki again and also No. 8 Venus Williams in a tight three set match. She finished runner-up to fellow 20-year-old Naomi Osaka. With this result, she climbed to No. 11 in the WTA rankings and also became the Russian No. 1, ending Svetlana Kuznetsova's long run as Russia's top women's singles player.
  Kasatkina had strong clay and grass court seasons as well. She made the quarterfinals at the Charleston Open and the third round at the Premier 5 Italian Open. She also had another big result at a Premier Mandatory tournament, reaching the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open. During the event, she upset hometown favourite and world No. 3 Garbiñe Muguruza. Her best tournament on clay was the French Open, where she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. She defeated No. 2 Wozniacki for the third time in 2018 in a match that was suspended midway through due to darkness, before losing to the eventual runner-up Sloane Stephens. Another Grand Slam quarterfinal followed at Wimbledon, losing to the eventual champion and world No. 11 Angelique Kerber.
  Kasatkina failed to continue her Grand Slam success at the US Open, losing in the second round. In October, she returned to Russia and won the Kremlin Cup for her only title of the season. She defeated Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur in the final. With the title, she also made her top 10 debut. Kasatkina was initially named the second alternate for the WTA Finals. With only one withdrawal, she instead participated in the WTA Elite Trophy, where she was grouped with Madison Keys and Wang Qiang. She began the round robin with a win over Wang, but lost to Keys in a match where she had to play on a short amount of rest while Keys was playing her first match. As a result, she finished in last place in the group through the tiebreak criteria. Kasatkina finished the year ranked No. 10 in the world.
caption: Kasatkina at the 2018 Birmingham Classic
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