Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina was born on May 7, 1997, in Tolyatti, Russia. Her father, Sergey Igorevich Kasatkin, was a former professional ice hockey player who represented Russia in national competitions. Her mother competed in athletics and then switched her career to become a lawyer.
Daria Kasatkina has an older brother named Alexandr, who convinced her to take up tennis when she was six years old. Alexandr and Daria often travel together on Tour. Kasatkina had a spectacular career as a junior player. She had an 83% win rate, translating to 111 wins from 134 matches.
She won the Roland Garros girl’s title in 2014 and peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 3 on the ITF Junior circuit at the end of the tournament. In total, she won nine titles at the junior level. Having turned professional in 2013, it was not until the following year that she got a taste of her first WTA main draw match.
She entered the Kremlin Cup main draw as a wild card but lost in the first round to American player Alison Riske in her opening match. Kasatkina waited almost an entire year before she won her first WTA match. It was in Bad Gastein, Austria, where she defeated Alexandra Krunic in the first round on her way to the quarterfinals.
Later during the season, she entered the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time at the US Open as a lucky loser. She picked up wins over Daria Saville (Gavrilova) and Ana Konjuh to reach the third round stage. 2015 was the first year Kasatkina finished the season in the world’s Top 100.
Kasatkina’s first career Top 10 victory came in Auckland in 2017, where she stunned seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the opening round in straight sets. That season, she attained a Top 30 year-end ranking. She won her first WTA title in Charleston in 2017, recording a trio of three-set wins on her way to the final, where she demolished Jelena Ostapenko for the loss of four games.
Kasatkina has reached the second week in three of the four Grand Slams, with her best result at this level coming at Roland Garros in 2022. Kasatkina reached the semifinal stage, where she lost to eventual champion Iga Swiatek. 2022 remains Kasatkina’s best season on the WTA Tour.
She topped a career-best ranking of No. 8 and qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time but was eliminated in the group stage. Kasatkina has won titles on home soil, too, in Moscow and St. Petersburg on indoor hard courts. Despite her decent singles career, Kasatkina has also been a team player. She was part of the Russian team that won 2020-2021 (postponed due to the coronavirus) Billie Jean King Cup trophy, winning all her matches in the competition.
