Another flop again?

Hard to do worse than the last game!

Kasatkina pulled off a double whammy. Finally shining in front of her new Australian crowd by winning her first “home” match… then totally embarrassing herself afterwards. I admit it, I let myself get lulled to sleep by the post-match storyline, the desire she showed and an apparent confidence, before having to sit through an absolutely atrocious performance. Not a single service game won, like she was taking a disguised double bagel. Everything was bad, and in front of a packed court, too.

We’re still talking about a former top-8 player who’s now fighting just to stay in the top 50. Four wins on hard court in the last six months is very thin. She really needs to wake up, because on the other side of the net is a 19-year-old gem, straight out of that formidable Czech pool that’s been terrorizing the ITF circuit for a few months now.

Her game is still a bit raw, but she’s already very comfortable on both fast and slow surfaces. It’s pretty crazy to see such a complete game at that age. Catapulted from ranking 500 to 126 in a year, I genuinely think she’ll be one of the breakout players of 2026. At just 17, she was already clearly talking about Grand Slam ambitions. Here we are.

Coming from the Babolat team, like other young prospects such as Bejlek or Korneeva, Nikola is also coached by her father. She’s very tall (1.82m), serves big and loves to move forward. You might think the match-up is easy for Dasha, but as far as I’m concerned, I think exactly the opposite.