Maria Sharapova had another full-court press victory at the Rogers Cup in Montreal Wednesday. The 31-year-old superstar dominated from start to finish against Daria Kasatkina
to win 6-0, 6-2 on Court Central at IGA Stadium. It was the second quickest finish for the Russian who was in fine form going on into the tournament.
The Russian had a good start to her tournament despite having to play it in two parts. With a new day in action, the 31-year-old was ready to take on her countrywoman for the first time. Kasatkina battled hard against the tough Greek who forced her into a third set but ran out of gas to play at the level needed to win. In what was her first since July. 26, the world number 12 looked for another big win against a former world number one.
She found herself quickly in a hole as Sharapova blasted a service game before consolidating it with a break. Before the third could come into play, the rain came down to suspend action for seven minutes before the 31-year-old resumed play in the third. She held serve quickly to gain another notch against Kasatkina who remained scoreless.
Frustration was running through the 21-year-old who couldn’t bring together the second serve that troubled her return game. When it was 5-0 in favor of Sharapova, Kasatkina called for a coaching call where he told her to find something in her game and raise the intensity. The world number 12 failed to find it in the sixth where Sharapova continued the onslaught earning the bagel on a winner ending 35 minutes. Both had three double faults in the set but the winners were well in favor of Sharapova who had 11 to Kasatkina's two.
With the hope of the 21-year-old getting intensity, the world number 22 kept her opponent flat winning her seventh game in a row. Kasatkina ended the winning streak on her serve that came together just enough to avoid the double bagel. She almost had two due to Sharapova's fifth double fault of the match but got out of trouble to stay on point gaining the lead once again. Kasatkina tried to go for a way to level the game on her serve but Sharapova contained a stance that was too hard to defeat. She rallied back to deuce taking control to gain the AD point before capturing the first break of the set.
The 21-year-old was trying for one of her own in the fifth but it remained an uphill battle playing against the pace Sharapova conducted. It was soon a 4-1 rout for the world number 22 who sat two games from another successful finish for her game. Kasatkina etched out a second victory for herself playing a gutsy offense that got the best of Sharapova at times. While it came on her service game, she could not do anything strong against the Russian superstar who slowly climbed up to a 5-2 lead ready to go for the final win necessary. She did so on the break reaching two match points to close out the day in 1 hour and 16 minutes.
"I came on the court having a lot of respect for my opponent because she's up and coming and really established herself being 12th in the world so I knew that I had a tough match from the beginning," Sharapova said after the match.
Despite having five double faults, the veteran Russian had 25 winners on the day keeping Kasatkina quiet on offense while she herself struggled with the first and second serve. While there were moments where Sharapova could improve, she'll have to do so against Caroline Garcia in the round of 16. "It's a different opponent with a really big serve," she said about her next match up. "Ill have to be sharp off the return. I lost to her the last time we played soI'mm looking forward to that match and hope to do some things differently."
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