Daria Kasatkina saved two match points in the decisive tie-break to beat Yulia Putintseva 6-4 1-6 7-6 (8-6) reaching the quarter final at the Ningbo Open.
Putintseva broke serve in the fourth game of the first set and held serve at 30 to open up a 4-1 lead. Kasatkina came back by winning five consecutive games with two breaks of serve to close out the opening set 6-4.
Putintseva broke twice in the fourth and sixth games and served out on her third set point to win the second set 6-1 forcing the match to the decider.
Putintseva earned an early break in the first game of the third set to open up a 2-0 lead. Kasatkina broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2, but she went down 2-4 after dropping her serve in the fifth game. Kasatkina pulled the break back with a forehand to draw level to 4-4. She saved one of the match points down 4-6 in the tie-break with a forehand winner before winning three consecutive points to close out the tie-break 8-6. Kasatkina won her 23rd match of the season that was decided by the third set.
Kasatkina won for the second time in her three head-to-head matches against Putintseva. The Russian player had previously beaten her Kazakhstani opponent in the second round of Wimbledon in 2018, but she was beaten 3-6 6-2 6-3 in the third round in Miami last May.
“I did not want three sets, but I was expecting something like that, but always when I play against Yulia something like that happens. I feel the whole match I was always down in the score, but I knew I would have a chance to come back and I did. Tennis is like that. If you fight, 99% of the time you get your chance. I thought the level was pretty high. We fought our butts through this match”, said Kasatkina.
Kasatkina set up a semifinal clash against Paula Badosa, who beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2 6-2. Badosa converted her second break point in the sixth game of the first set to take a 4-2 lead. Haddad Maia saved a set point, as she was serving to stay in the set. Badosa served it out on her third set point. Badosa broke twice in the third and fifth games to seal the win on her first match point.
