No.6 seed Daria Kasatkina became the first player through to the Huafa Technology WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai semifinals after defeating No.11 seed Magda Linette 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours and 9 minutes.
Having already beaten No.1 seed Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 1-6, 6-1 on Wednesday, Kasatkina tops the Azalea Group with an unbeaten 2-0 record. Krejcikova and Linette are both out of the tournament. It is a career-best performance in Zhuhai for Kasatkina, who fell in the round-robin stage here in her only previous appearance in 2018.
Kasatkina improves to 3-2 overall against Linette, whom she previously defeated in the 2021 San Jose quarterfinals and in their last meeting, in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open. The 26-year-old advances to her fifth semifinal of 2023; following her run to the last four in Zhengzhou two weeks ago, it is the first time Kasatkina has made the semifinals in consecutive tournaments since Rome and Roland Garros 2022.
How Kasatkina defeated Linette: In keeping with her performance against Krejcikova, Kasatkina found that an aggressive approach in which she committed to going after her forehand paid dividends. In a match characterized by patient point construction, she found 24 winners to Linette’s 21.
Though service holds were not at a premium in a contest that featured 13 breaks in total, Kasatkina managed the scoreboard momentum efficiently. In the first set, she came through a gruelling nine-deuce service game in which she served two aces to hold for 5-1 — a crucial lead that ensured Linette’s late charge in the set couldn’t make up the gap.
In the second set, it was Linette’s turn to battle through two marathon games, navigating nine deuces across the first two games to edge out to a 2-0 lead. But the Pole was unable to sustain the necessary intensity to sustain that lead, and Kasatkina responded with four straight games to take control again.
Kasatkina’s serve became unreliable in the home stretch, and from 4-2 she conceded her delivery twice. But on return, she was sharp and free-swinging: from 2-0 down, Kasatkina won 16 of the last 18 points on Linette’s serve.