LONDON, July 5. /TASS/. Russia’s Daria Kasatkina advanced to the third round of the 2023 Wimbledon tournament on Wednesday, blazing past her British opponent Jodie Burrage in straight sets 6-0; 6-2.
"To be honest it was difficult playing against a girl from here with everyone supporting her," the tournament’s official website quoted Kasatkina as saying after the match.
"I was also nervous to play on the best court in the world. It’s a special moment. The atmosphere on this court is something else. I felt the electricity inside myself and it was difficult to handle, but I’m happy how I was able to do it," she said.
Kasatkina, who is the 11th-seed at the tournament and is playing under a neutral status, is set to face in the next round the winner of the 2nd round encounter between Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus and Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska.
The 26-year-old Russian tennis player is currently ranked 10th in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings. Kasatkina is the winner of six WTA tournaments and her best result playing on the Grand Slam circuit was when she reached the semifinals of the 2022 French Open.
This season’s third Grand Slam tennis tournament, Wimbledon, kicked off on July 3 and unlike the previous edition of the tournament last year, Russian players were allowed to compete, but under certain conditions.
The Wimbledon tournament, the most prestigious out of the four Grand Slam tournaments, has been held annually in London since 1877. It took place last year between June 27 and July 10. This year’s Wimbledon runs between July 3 and 16.
Russia is represented in men’s singles by Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev. Russia’s Karen Khachanov announced earlier that he would skip this year’s tournament because of a bad back.
The women’s draw includes six Russians: Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Lyudmila Samsonova, Yekaterina Aleksandrova, Anastasia Potapova and Mirra Andreeva.