My notes watching the match…

Cincinnati WTA1000

Daria Kasatkina vs Zeynep Sonmez
First Round Match

First Set Notes (during play)
Looks very fit
Came out looking confident
Few apparent nerves
Broke Sonmez immediately
Held serve to consolidate
Showing no hesitation going for lines
A few unforced errors, needs to feel the ball
Mental game and body language seem 👍🏼
Sonmez is hitting well but not serving hard
What’s up with Dasha’s coach?
Matteo and Natasha also present
Great weather, 28° with clear skies
Shot making looks great
Second break of ZS makes it 4-1 DK
Needs to keep the spring in her step
No let down, let’s go Dasha!
Dasha’s first serve effective when it goes in
One ace, 4 doubles so far in first set
Sonmez showing signs of life
Dasha erratic trying to close out 1st set
Now 5-2, service to Dasha
Should get a good sense here of her grit
Four 1st serve bangers to win game at love!
Amazing to see the lack of nerves
6-2 first set goes the way of our own Dasha

First Set Summary
65% first serves in
6 winners to 10 unforced errors
2/3 break points won
Didn’t face a break point
Total points 29-18 in D’s favor
Excellent opening set!

Second Set Notes
Waiting for Zeynep to take a loo break
Sonmez to serve
Bob Navarro has really improved this event
Sonmez seems a bit lost, too many errors
Dasha controlling every point, and breaks!
Can she keep her foot on the gas?
My tennis channel connection just froze!
(Rakhimova leads Burrell 1 set to love)
Ok, our game is back…Sonmez leading 2-1
D’s body language still very good
Z striking the ball quite well now
Still struggling with returning D’s first serve
Score is 2-2, both players in the flow now
3-2 Sonmez, Dasha to serve. Z looks good
Can Dasha raise her level in response?
Love Will Tear Us Apart playing, nice
Dasha with another ace!
Was in some trouble, recovered to hold 3-3
Natasha wears black 24/7 I think!
Lots of long, high quality rallies…good stuff
Dasha is crushing the critical points
Breaks Sonmez in a close on to go up 4-3
Back on serve, but hits 5th double 😕
ZS breaks back to love, 4-4
Gut check time! Who wants it?
Sonmez is very fit and good athlete
Dasha has shown NO dip in energy
Not serving as well, but breaks to lead 5-4
Can she serve it out? I think she will🤞🏻
Most WTA tournaments have great music!
Error fest in final game from both
5-4, deuce. Dasha can’t buy a serve now
Had match point, but ends up getting broken
First real nerves I’ve noticed from Dash
The level has dropped big time suddenly
Zeynep being the aggressor, but netting it
5-5 ad Kasatkina…back to deuce 🤦🏻‍♀️
Ad Sonmez now, holds to take 6-5 lead
Dasha had match point in this one 😑
Has to hold, win it in two sets
Dasha serving, gift UE from Z
Another unforced from Z, and another!
Dasha holds to love…tiebreaker coming
Dasha is 3-5 in breakers ‘26, 111-112 career
Sonmez is 5-4 in tiebreakers this season
Here we go…and Sonmez takes it 7-4
Bollocks. Don’t give young players confidence!

Second Set Stats
Dasha 4 winners to 24 unforced points
Zeynep 12 winners to 26 unforced errors
Dasha 3/7 trying to break, Zeynep 3/3
Sonmez more points won 47-43

Third Set Commentary
This has a foreboding feeling to me :/
DK had the match on her racquet and failed
She’ll need to keep her energy high
Here we go…
We pick up at 1-1 in the third set
Dasha serving, another double fault
Fuck, Sonmez breaks 😖
She’s definitely raised her level, but…
Still too many errors, but D is falling off
The usual 2026 story unfortunately
Trouble beating lower ranked players
She’s still hitting ball hard…
Did her soul just leave her? Or her nerves?
Suddenly an epic 20 shot rally
Dasha is shot, wilts on critical points
Zeynep Sonmez is up 3-1, going to rout DK

Final Stats
Who cares…not in DK’s favor. Gave another one away.
Sonmez did play better after the first set,
But she continued to make lots of errors and didn’t play particularly well.
Still Dasha found a way to lose to her.