Ill-fated Macau exhibition initially including Raducanu v Bencic won by Daria Kasatkina

Russia’s Daria Kasatkina defeated China’s Wang Xinyu in the exhibition match in Macau. The match was originally scheduled to take place between Britain’s Emma Raducanu and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

However, the 2021 US Open champion ended up withdrawing from the competition in order to continue her recovery from a lengthy injury layoff. In the match, Kasatkina defeated Xinyu in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4. The 26-year-old will be hoping that such results will help her gain some confidence ahead of the next season. She played 39 matches in 2023 and ended up winning 25 of them.

Her most impressive outing came while playing at the Hard Court where she ended up winning 16 out of 21 matches and suffered just five defeats in the process. It was the first time in her career that Kasatkina ended up winning 25 or more matches in a singles category. Despite having a good record on the court, the Tolyatti-born had a pretty average time while playing at the Grand Slams in 2023. Her most impressive outing while playing in a major competition was qualifying for the fourth-round of the French Open and the US Open but on both occasions, she ended up on the losing side.