Daily Times

PARIS: Russian ninth seed Daria Kasatkina produced an early candidate for shot of the tournament during a classy 6-3 6-4 defeat of former runner-up Marketa Vondrousova to sweep into the third round of the French Open on Wednesday. Kasatkina was coming under pressure from the left-handed Czech at 2-3 down in the second set and 30-30 and looked about to go break point down as she chased back to retrieve a superb lob volley by Vondrousova. But the 26-year-old conjured a magical between the legs shot that flashed by a stunned opponent who had advanced to the net. She duly held serve with a forehand winner but Vondrousova, who reached the final in 2019 when she lost to Ash Barty, stuck to her task and had a point to lead 5-3 before Kasatkina hit back to reel off the last three games. Kasatkina lost to Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year and remains one of the most inventive players on the women’s circuit and is gearing up for another deep run.