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Daria Kasatkina’s the first semi-finalist of the 2023 WTA Elite Trophy. The sixth seed won her second round-robin match on Thursday, against Magda Linette to make it to the second-last stage of the event on the back of being undefeated with two wins in that stage of the tournament.
Kasatkina needed a little over two hours to score a 6-3, 6-4 win. Kasatkina won 51% of her first-serve points and won 60% points on return on her opponent’s second serve. She was shaky when it came to winning second-serve points and won only 43% of her second-serve points.
However, she was able to get past Linette’s second serve, finishing by winning 21 of 28 points on return on the latter’s second serve. The 26-year-old wrapped up the match with 89 points of which 24 came in the form of winners.
WTA Elite Trophy: Jelena Ostapenko, Liudmila Samsonova’s survival stories
Meanwhile, Donna Vekic joined Linette in exiting the second-to-last tournament of the season, in the round-robin stage. Jelena Ostapenko defeated the Croatian in their match-up, in the Orchid Group, to thwart the latter’s ambitions.
The Latvian notched a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win after an hour and 56 minutes of play….
