Amanda Anisimova beats Daria Kasatkina in Cincinnati

As many expected, a return to American soil brought good things to Anisimova who bested Daria Kasatkina 6-4 6-4 to move on at the Western & Southern Open.

Anisimova did not have a very good time in Toronto losing to Pliskova in round two but her return to Cincinnati looked rather sharp. Kasatkina was a tricky matchup for her because the Russian gets a lot of balls back and forces you to hit it one more time.

As a very aggressive player, Anisimova prefers to keep those points short and things looked wobbly when she dropped her serve in the first game of the match. She broke back immediately and jumped out to a 4-1 lead not long after that with Kasatkina eventually fighting back to 4-4.

The Russian allowed Anisimova another break point at 4-5 and the American took it to win the opening set 6-4. Not serving well enough was a problem for Kasatkina as it gave Anisimova a lot of good looks and the 2nd serve and it proved crucial.

The 2nd set was an interesting one as we saw a lot of twists and turns. Anisimova took a 2-0 lead but lost her serve to make it 2-1. She took another one 3-1 but gave it right back 3-3. We saw a couple of solid games from both players but eventually, Anisimova was able to get a match point and use it to win the match 6-4 6-4.