New Aussie Kasatkina salutes the original 'Dasha'

The Advertiser

4 days ago

Once, there was just one Aussie tennis 'Dasha'…
Now there's two, and the new recruit Daria Kasatkina couldn't be happier that one of her oldest friends, Daria 'Dasha' Saville, is on hand to help her make a smooth transition into the hearts of Australian tennis.
All's going well so far with Russian-born Kasatkina's recent switch of allegiance to Australia with the 28-year-old into the third round of the French Open on Saturday, when she'll face world no.10 Paula Badosa in her first grand slam playing under her new flag.
She's yet to have the chance to go to her new adopted home country because of the demands of the international WTA circuit, but the one person who's been invaluable in helping her plans to settle in Melbourne is Saville, who's been part of the Australian tennis scene for a decade now.
As Daria Gavrilova, Saville was a friend of Kasatkina's from their junior days in Russia, and they've been buddies ever since, even playing together as a doubles team at the Australian Open.
"We've been friends for very, very long time and to have someone like that as a neighbour, as a teammate, it feels great, honestly," said Kasatkina.
"First of all, she's super happy for me, which was super nice. She's always asking 'when you moving?', sending me the locations, the houses and everything.
"So she's very excited to have a new neighbour, and I'm also very happy about that."
Saville came from Russia as a teenager and initially stayed with the family of an AFL journalist in Melbourne, falling in love with both the country and fellow player Luke Saville. The pair married in 2018.
She's still a tough competitor on the WTA circuit, having battled through qualifiers to get to the first round at Roland Garros.
Kasatkina believes that playing for Australia has given her a bit more pressure but a bit more motivation, but for the moment she's trying to put all that out of her mind and "focus on simple things - a tennis match."
And what a tennis match. For a third-round, the meeting between 17th seed Kasatkina and 10th seed Badosa on the Simonne-Mathieu 'garden' court is a high quality affair, with the pair having shared the spoils in their six matches.
"Paula's an amazing player. She showed a few very good results this year already," said Kasatkina of her US-born Spanish opponent, the former world No.2 who's already created waves this week by knocking out Naomi Osaka in the first round.
It was a spectacular comeback win for the injury-plagued 27-year-old, who came into the tournament admitting she had no expectations after playing just one full match in the previous two-and-a-half months.
"If Paula hadn't struggled with injuries as much as she has, I think she would be even higher now. It's a tough draw, of course, and we always played tough matches," added Kasatkina.
"I just remember the one we played last year at Wimbledon, very tough match also in the third round [which Badosa won]. Three sets then, so it's not going to be easy, and I have to prepare for the big battle for sure.'
Once, there was just one Aussie tennis 'Dasha'…
Now there's two, and the new recruit Daria Kasatkina couldn't be happier that one of her oldest friends, Daria 'Dasha' Saville, is on hand to help her make a smooth transition into the hearts of Australian tennis.
All's going well so far with Russian-born Kasatkina's recent switch of allegiance to Australia with the 28-year-old into the third round of the French Open on Saturday, when she'll face world no.10 Paula Badosa in her first grand slam playing under her new flag.
She's yet to have the chance to go to her new adopted home country because of the demands of the international WTA circuit, but the one person who's been invaluable in helping her plans to settle in Melbourne is Saville, who's been part of the Australian tennis scene for a decade now.
As Daria Gavrilova, Saville was a friend of Kasatkina's from their junior days in Russia, and they've been buddies ever since, even playing together as a doubles team at the Australian Open.
"We've been friends for very, very long time and to have someone like that as a neighbour, as a teammate, it feels great, honestly," said Kasatkina.
"First of all, she's super happy for me, which was super nice. She's always asking 'when you moving?', sending me the locations, the houses and everything.
"So she's very excited to have a new neighbour, and I'm also very happy about that."
Saville came from Russia as a teenager and initially stayed with the family of an AFL journalist in Melbourne, falling in love with both the country and fellow player Luke Saville. The pair married in 2018.
She's still a tough competitor on the WTA circuit, having battled through qualifiers to get to the first round at Roland Garros.
Kasatkina believes that playing for Australia has given her a bit more pressure but a bit more motivation, but for the moment she's trying to put all that out of her mind and "focus on simple things - a tennis match."
And what a tennis match. For a third-round, the meeting between 17th seed Kasatkina and 10th seed Badosa on the Simonne-Mathieu 'garden' court is a high quality affair, with the pair having shared the spoils in their six matches.
"Paula's an amazing player. She showed a few very good results this year already," said Kasatkina of her US-born Spanish opponent, the former world No.2 who's already created waves this week by knocking out Naomi Osaka in the first round.
It was a spectacular comeback win for the injury-plagued 27-year-old, who came into the tournament admitting she had no expectations after playing just one full match in the previous two-and-a-half months.
"If Paula hadn't struggled with injuries as much as she has, I think she would be even higher now. It's a tough draw, of course, and we always played tough matches," added Kasatkina.
"I just remember the one we played last year at Wimbledon, very tough match also in the third round [which Badosa won]. Three sets then, so it's not going to be easy, and I have to prepare for the big battle for sure.'
Once, there was just one Aussie tennis 'Dasha'…
Now there's two, and the new recruit Daria Kasatkina couldn't be happier that one of her oldest friends, Daria 'Dasha' Saville, is on hand to help her make a smooth transition into the hearts of Australian tennis.
All's going well so far with Russian-born Kasatkina's recent switch of allegiance to Australia with the 28-year-old into the third round of the French Open on Saturday, when she'll face world no.10 Paula Badosa in her first grand slam playing under her new flag.
She's yet to have the chance to go to her new adopted home country because of the demands of the international WTA circuit, but the one person who's been invaluable in helping her plans to settle in Melbourne is Saville, who's been part of the Australian tennis scene for a decade now.
As Daria Gavrilova, Saville was a friend of Kasatkina's from their junior days in Russia, and they've been buddies ever since, even playing together as a doubles team at the Australian Open.
"We've been friends for very, very long time and to have someone like that as a neighbour, as a teammate, it feels great, honestly," said Kasatkina.
"First of all, she's super happy for me, which was super nice. She's always asking 'when you moving?', sending me the locations, the houses and everything.
"So she's very excited to have a new neighbour, and I'm also very happy about that."
Saville came from Russia as a teenager and initially stayed with the family of an AFL journalist in Melbourne, falling in love with both the country and fellow player Luke Saville. The pair married in 2018.
She's still a tough competitor on the WTA circuit, having battled through qualifiers to get to the first round at Roland Garros.
Kasatkina believes that playing for Australia has given her a bit more pressure but a bit more motivation, but for the moment she's trying to put all that out of her mind and "focus on simple things - a tennis match."
And what a tennis match. For a third-round, the meeting between 17th seed Kasatkina and 10th seed Badosa on the Simonne-Mathieu 'garden' court is a high quality affair, with the pair having shared the spoils in their six matches.
"Paula's an amazing player. She showed a few very good results this year already," said Kasatkina of her US-born Spanish opponent, the former world No.2 who's already created waves this week by knocking out Naomi Osaka in the first round.
It was a spectacular comeback win for the injury-plagued 27-year-old, who came into the tournament admitting she had no expectations after playing just one full match in the previous two-and-a-half months.
"If Paula hadn't struggled with injuries as much as she has, I think she would be even higher now. It's a tough draw, of course, and we always played tough matches," added Kasatkina.
"I just remember the one we played last year at Wimbledon, very tough match also in the third round [which Badosa won]. Three sets then, so it's not going to be easy, and I have to prepare for the big battle for sure.'
Once, there was just one Aussie tennis 'Dasha'…
Now there's two, and the new recruit Daria Kasatkina couldn't be happier that one of her oldest friends, Daria 'Dasha' Saville, is on hand to help her make a smooth transition into the hearts of Australian tennis.
All's going well so far with Russian-born Kasatkina's recent switch of allegiance to Australia with the 28-year-old into the third round of the French Open on Saturday, when she'll face world no.10 Paula Badosa in her first grand slam playing under her new flag.
She's yet to have the chance to go to her new adopted home country because of the demands of the international WTA circuit, but the one person who's been invaluable in helping her plans to settle in Melbourne is Saville, who's been part of the Australian tennis scene for a decade now.
As Daria Gavrilova, Saville was a friend of Kasatkina's from their junior days in Russia, and they've been buddies ever since, even playing together as a doubles team at the Australian Open.
"We've been friends for very, very long time and to have someone like that as a neighbour, as a teammate, it feels great, honestly," said Kasatkina.
"First of all, she's super happy for me, which was super nice. She's always asking 'when you moving?', sending me the locations, the houses and everything.
"So she's very excited to have a new neighbour, and I'm also very happy about that."
Saville came from Russia as a teenager and initially stayed with the family of an AFL journalist in Melbourne, falling in love with both the country and fellow player Luke Saville. The pair married in 2018.
She's still a tough competitor on the WTA circuit, having battled through qualifiers to get to the first round at Roland Garros.
Kasatkina believes that playing for Australia has given her a bit more pressure but a bit more motivation, but for the moment she's trying to put all that out of her mind and "focus on simple things - a tennis match."
And what a tennis match. For a third-round, the meeting between 17th seed Kasatkina and 10th seed Badosa on the Simonne-Mathieu 'garden' court is a high quality affair, with the pair having shared the spoils in their six matches.
"Paula's an amazing player. She showed a few very good results this year already," said Kasatkina of her US-born Spanish opponent, the former world No.2 who's already created waves this week by knocking out Naomi Osaka in the first round.
It was a spectacular comeback win for the injury-plagued 27-year-old, who came into the tournament admitting she had no expectations after playing just one full match in the previous two-and-a-half months.
"If Paula hadn't struggled with injuries as much as she has, I think she would be even higher now. It's a tough draw, of course, and we always played tough matches," added Kasatkina.
"I just remember the one we played last year at Wimbledon, very tough match also in the third round [which Badosa won]. Three sets then, so it's not going to be easy, and I have to prepare for the big battle for sure.'