August 25, 2022 -03371635-/Tennis Canada Daria Kasatkina
Top seed Daria Kasatkina remains on track at the National Bank Championships after a straight-set quarter-final win on Thursday.
Kasatkina got off to slow starts in both sets against fifth seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz, but was always able to bounce back, claiming a 6-3, 6-2 win in the only quarter-final featuring two seeded players.
In both sets, the top seed was broken in her first service game. She won six games in a row from 0-3 down in the first, but reacted quickly in the second, breaking back immediately as she won the final four games to advance to the final four.
Hope for a home champion in Granby was snuffed out on Thursday, as Rebecca Marino, the last Canadian left in the women’s singles, was defeated in three sets by 10th seed Marta Kostyuk.
Marino’s usually mighty serve let her down in the quarter-final matchup, as she only put 52 percent of her first serve in play and was broken six times in the match.
She started strongly, breaking Kostyuk in the first game of the match, but from 2-0 up she lost six games in a row to drop the opening set.
It looked like the Canadian had righted the ship when she broke early in the second set, but her Ukrainian opponent would not go away. Despite dropping the second set, Kostyuk broke immediately and took a 3-0 lead in the third on her way to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win.
However, just over an hour after the match, Kostyuk withdrew from the event, with a shoulder injury, sending Daria Saville directly into the final.
Saville had a fairly easy time booking her place in the semis, defeating Xiyu Wang 6-3, 6-0. The Australian got off to a slow starting, having her serve broken in the opening game. That was the only blip for Saville, who won nine straight games from 3-all to advance.
The first women’s quarter-final of the day was one of the best matches of the tournament so far, as Diane Parry edged Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria in a third set tiebreak 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(4).
Parry had a chance to close out the match in straight sets when she served for the match at 6-5 in the second and had two match points. But she failed to convert and missed another in the ensuing tiebreak which Maria won to extend the match.
After neither woman broke serve in the third, Parry clinched her spot in the final four by winning the tiebreak on her fourth match point. She will meet either top seed Kasatkina in the semis.
