We’re into the second round of the US Open and the Women’s tournament is heating up. Damien Kayat previews two of Wednesday’s matches: Daria Kasatkina v Peton Stearns and Paula Badosa v Taylot Townsend.
2024 WTA Tour
US Open
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre
Selected 2nd Round Matches
28th August 2024
Daria Kasatkina 71/100 | Peyton Stearns 11/10
Russian Daria Kasatkina enjoyed a fairly routine first-round win over Jacquelin Cristian, winning 63% of her break-points to ease past the Romanian 6-2, 6-4.
She celebrated in style, doing a nifty little dance for girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako. This has been a bit of a strange year for the versatile shot-maker. She has reached an incredible four WTA 500 finals this season, winning her seventh career title at the Eastbourne International.
In fact, she has reached finals on all three surfaces this year. But she hasn’t been able to get past the third round in any of her Grand Slam appearances. Moreover, she came into this year’s US Open in pretty underwhelming form, going 1-3 in her North American hardcourt precursors.
But the former French Open semi-finalist was rather untroubled in her opener and she has the quality to make a deep Grand Slam run. She reached the fourth round here last year and she is always a dangerous dark horse pick.
22-year-old American Peyton Stearns took the scenic route in her professional journey, winning the 2022 NCAA Championship during a two-year collegiate stint. And she has made impressive headway since arriving on Tour.
She won her maiden title at this year’s Rabat Grand Prix. And she has shown some real signs of progress during this year’s North American hardcourt campaign. She reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final in Toronto (going down to Pegula in a competitive clash).
She then reached the quarters in Cleaveland last week and she looked really composed in her Flushing Meadows opener, powering past veteran Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 7-5. She served brilliantly throughout, crunching seven aces and winning 72% of her first-serve points.
She has a strong serve and dynamite forehand and I have been championing her for some time now. She reached the 4th round here last season, clearly demonstrating an aptitude for these brisk surfaces.
Verdict: Stearns to win in three 39/10
Kasatkina leads Stearns 3-1 in their head-to-head rivalry. However, it was Stearns who emerged victorious when they last met at this year’s French Open.
This will be a fascinating clash, with Stearns looking to dictate proceedings with her forehand while Kasatkina counterpunches and looks to create little crosscourt angles.
Something tells me that Stearns- buoyed by a fanatical home crowd- could have the firepower to tame Kasatkina.
Paula Badosa 39/100 | Taylor Townsend 39/20
Former World No.2 Paula Badosa has really gone from pain to glory this season. The Spaniard has had a tough few years, with a career-threatening back injury leading to an extended hiatus.
And she took some time to recover from that injury, visibly suffering on court in some of the earlier events this season. Also, her well-publicised relationship with Stefanos Tsitsipas had its own ups and downs, with the couple briefly separating a few months back.
My, how things have changed. Badosa went for her final dose of cortisone injections and it seems to have done wonders for her pain. She won her first title in two years in Washington. She would also go on to reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati.
In fact, she brought a 10-2 summer hardcourt record into this year’s US Open. And she was in no mood to fool around in her opener, dispatching Golubic 6-0, 6-3. Her relationship with Tsitsipas is also back on track (they are actually competing in the mixed doubles this year).
Badosa is just riding a real high at present and she knows that victory in this match will see her progress to the 3rd round here for the first time in her career.
28-year-old American Taylor Townsend has had to overcome plenty of adversity in her tennis career. She was asked by the USTA to sit out of the 2012 US Open junior event because of concerns about her weight.
I think that whole fiasco left plenty of scar tissue and it’s taken her a while to find her way at professional level. But the serve-and-volley exponent has started to pick up some really strong results this season.
She won the Wimbledon doubles title playing alongside Katerina Siniakova. And she recently broke into the top 50 in the singles for the first time in her career.
She actually created a bit of history for herself in Toronto, becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 quarter-final. She backed that up with a round of 16 run in Cincinnati (beating Daria Kasatkina along the way).
Verdict: Badosa to win in straight sets 19/20
Badosa easily won their only previous meeting, thrashing the American in straight-sets at this year’s Aussie Open. And I think we will witness more of the same here.
Badosa was all business in her opening match and the power and consistency of her groundstrokes will wear Townsend down.
