Daria Kasatkina has questioned the scheduling of her opening round match in Doha after she reached the final in Abu Dhabi.
Kasatkina is into her second final of the season after a two hour and 59 victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The world number 14 defeated Haddad Maia 6-3 4-6 7-6(2) with a mixture of aggressive and varied tennis as she secured a place in the final in Abu Dhabi.
However it wasn’t all smiles for Kasatkina as she left the court finding out that she has to play her first round match in Doha the day after the final in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking after her match Kasatkina expressed her frustration and is hoping a solution will be reached in the future, “It’s terrible scheduling, honestly,” Kasatkina was quoted by France 24 as saying.
“I don’t know how you can schedule the finals of the tournament on Sunday, wanting to finish the next tournament on Saturday, so you start it on Sunday, and like this, the player, if like me, you don’t have a bye in Doha, I have to play on Monday. And I play finals tomorrow at 5pm.
“We don’t have yet this technology that I can just do like this (snaps her fingers) and be in Doha in five seconds. I have a question, I don’t know to who, to WTA or the tournaments, like, are you guys trying to make players die, or to get injured often?
“I might have to fly Monday and step on the court the same day, after playing five matches here at the highest level. So I’m sorry but that’s something we have to talk about and consider.
“I hope this question will be addressed to the right people. And I’m not crying, I’m just saying the facts and the facts are saying that it’s impossible, it cannot be like that.”
Last year in Asia the WTA gave performance byes to players who had a short recovery between two big tournaments.
However they have not done that this time around to Kasatkina’s dismay as before the Russian gets to Doha, she will have to concentrate on the final in Abu Dhabi.
Taking on Kasatkina in the final is world number five Elena Rybakina after the Kazakh defeated Liudmila Samsonova 6-0 4-6 6-2.
It was the first time Rybakina defeated Samsonova in her career and now the former Wimbledon champion is looking forward to a tough match against Kasatkina, “It was a really tough battle and I’m really happy that I managed to win in the end,” Kasatkina was quoted by France 24 as saying.
“I started pretty well the match, a few shots went my way, but in the second set my focus went a little down. It’s going to be a very tough match against Kasatkina. A completely different style of the game. I have to have really good footwork and play aggressively.”
Currently the head-to-head is tied at 2-2 heading into tomorrow’s final.
