McCartney Kessler and Daria Kasatkina will meet on Wednesday for the first time on a singles draw at a WTA event with a place in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Open at stake.
In her opening match on Show Court, the American ousted Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3 6-3, while Kasatkina is coming off a victory in the final of the Ningbo Open versus Mirra Andreeva 6-0 4-6 6-4.
Match preview
For a third successive event on tour, McCartney Kessler began a singles tournament brightly, putting together a relatively straightforward victory in the round of 32.
Kessler was relatively solid on her first serve throughout her opening match at this event, with a winning percentage of 61% in that department.
Meanwhile, she allowed her opponent to make numerous unforced errors, with Kessler only hitting one double fault to Cocciaretto's four.
This is the third time in her last three appearances on tour that she has made it to the last 16, at least on the singles draw, losing at this stage of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open versus Eva Lys and defeating Mananchaya Sawangkaew at this stage of the Hong Kong 125 Open.
In only 16 matches played in the 2024 campaign, Kessler has won 64.6% of her first serves while managing to save 57.3% of her break points.
On the opposite end of things, she has won 41.8% of her return points in 2024 and has been able to convert 48.4% of her break points.
Fresh off winning her second singles tournament of the year, Daria Kasatkina returns to the hard court, a surface which has produced mixed results for her this year.
Before capturing the Ningbo Open, the third-ranked player at this event had not made it further than the round of 16 in her previous two events, losing at this stage at the Wuhan Open, where Magda Linette ousted her.
Kasastkina has not lost her first match on this surface since the National Bank Open in August when Amanda Anisimova came away with a straight-sets victory against her.
The 27-year-old Russian is a crafty baseline player with various shot selections at her disposal, including some heavy topspin forehands and some great drop shots.
One thing that has held her back from winning more often has been her over-aggressive play on serve, hitting 308 double faults this year.
She has a strong return game to make up for that flaw, winning 47.2% of her return points in 2024 and converting 49% of her break points.
Tournament so far
McCartney Kessler:
Round of 32: vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3 6-3
We say: Kessler to win in three sets
Kasatkina is, at times, her own worst enemy, and her unforced errors may be her downfall against Kessler, who is more than capable of pulling off an upset.
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