Rybakina loses to Kasatkina in first match since winning Wimbledon

In her first match since her stunning Wimbledon triumph, Kazakh Elena Rybakina was defeated by seventh seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina in the first round of the WTA San Jose Open on Monday evening.

Rybakina started the match strongly winning the first set 6-1 before Kasatkina, who reached the semi-finals at Roland-Garros but was unable to play at Wimbledon due to the ban on Russian players, bounced back to win the next two sets for the loss of just two games.

Kasatkina finally emerged a 1-6, 6-2, 6-0 winner in one hour and 40 minutes and will meet American qualifier Taylor Townsend in the second round.

“I didn’t have enough time to prepare for the hard season” – Rybakina

Speaking after her win, Rybakina said her preparation was not ideal due to her commitments after winning Wimbledon but added that she is happy to have kickstarted her hard court season and hopes to play better in the coming weeks.

“Of course it was a tough week after Wimbledon. I had many things to do, I had a lot of traveling,” she said as quoted by the WTA Tour website. “It wasn’t easy, of course. I didn’t have enough time to prepare for the hard season. I just wanted to come here and try my best because I knew I was coming to a very tough tournament. Here there are so many great players and I knew I could play in the first round with someone in the Top 10. Like Dasha, she played in the final here last year. I’m just happy that I’m here and I started my matches, so hopefully it will just be better and better.”

San Jose WTA 500, first-round matches (San Jose State University Tennis Center, hard, USD 757.900):

• Elizabeth Mandlik beats Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-3, 6-3
• Madison Keys beat Shuai Zhang: 6-4, 6-2
• Taylor Townsend beat Storm Sanders (Q): 6-1, 6-4
• Karolina Pliskova (8) beat Katie Boulter (WC): 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Amanda Anisimova beat Ashlyn Krueger (WC): 6-2, 7-6 (5)

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