Daria Kasatkina hits a winner during her match against Elena Rybakina during the Day 1 of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at the San Jose State Tennis Center on AUG 1, 2022. (Neal Waters)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Daria Kasatkina likes playing in San Jose.

The 2021 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic finalist recovered from a tough first set and took control of the final two sets to upset the defending Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 1-6 6-2 6-0 in a three-set victory in the evening’s featured match on Day 1 at the San Jose State Tennis Center.

The match didn’t get off to a great start for Kasatkina as Rybakina dominated the first set with her powerful serve and backhand that overwhelmed Kasatkina, who had trouble keeping up with the pace of play.

Everything changed in the second set. Kasatkina was able to break serve in the fourth game and rode the momentum with establishing her own service game. Rybakina began to commit many unforced errors and it snowballed into frustrated to the point that she could not recover her composure and attack the net which her game is known for.

“Every loss is always a lesson,” said Rybakina. “I think if I were more focused in the second set, maybe it would’ve gone my way. I knew if the match went three sets, it would not be an advantage for me. I was tired physically and you could see with all the (unforced) errors that my focused was just not there anymore.”

Kasatkina finished off the match winning seven straight games, including 12 of the last 14 going back to the second set. The seventh seeded Kasatkina said she could sense Rybakina’s frustration and smelled blood in the water.

“When you feel that the opponent is starting to miss (their shots), it completely changes the picture of the match. But in the second set I found the power, the speed, how I was supposed to play. And after I found it, it was much better.”

Fan favorite Madison Keys cruised to a straight sets victory over Shuai Zhang in the final afternoon matchup 6-4 6-2. The 27th ranked Keys overpowered Zhang with her powerful serve that clocked out at 115 mph. Key recorded seven aces during the 59-minute match and won 81% of her first serve points that Zhang had no answer for.

Keyes broke serve once in the first set and twice in the second set to advance to the round of 16.

When asked if this is the best her serve has been this season Keys responded with a laughing retort, “Maybe? I don’t know. I think I’ve served well in periods throughout this year. Obvious today it was not only helping me win free points, but it also got me out of a few tricky situations in the second set.”

In other action earlier on during the afternoon, 22nd ranked Amanda Anisimova defeated fellow American Ashlyn Krueger in straight sets 6-2 7-6 to advance to the round of 16.

15th ranked Karolina Pliskova of Czhechia won a grueling three-set match over Great Britain’s Katie Boulter 1-6 7-6 6-3. After easily winning the first set 6-1, Boulter almost pulled off an incredible comeback while being down 0-5 in the second set. Boulter won the next six out of seven games to force the tiebreaker that Pliskova eventually won to force the deciding third set. In the end Pliskova’s experience proved to be too much for Boulter as Pliskova finished off the match in just nine games in the third set.

American Taylor Townsend defeated Australia’s Storm Sanders in straight sets 6-1 6-4. It was Townsend’s first level win since her first-round victory over Jessica Pegula at the 2020 Australian Open.

The final match of the evening featured a battle of youth versus experience. 21-year-old Elizabeth Mandlik defeated the elder Alison Riske-Amritraj in straight sets 6-3 6-3. Mandlik came into the tournament in the qualifying stages and has advanced to the round of 16 with her third consecutive victory in her first singles main draw in the WTA. Mandlik is the daughter of Grand Slam tennis champion Hana Mandlíková.

“When I hit the ace (to end the match), I was like no way!” said Mandlik when asked what it felt like to earn his first main draw win. “I was looking on Instagram and my brother posted a story with my mom in the background (saying) ‘No way this just didn’t happen’. For me I believe it. It means everything to me, it’s so special.”

In the only doubles match of the day, the team of Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Chinese-Taipe’s Hao-Ching Chan defeated the Japanese duo of Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya in straight sets 7-6 6-4.

UP NEXT: Coco Gauff makes her return to the Bay Area when she battles Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalnina in the featured evening match at 7:00pm on Stadium Court.