Daria Kasatkina battles past Marie Bouzkova to win WTA Phillip Island Trophy

Russia’s Daria Kasatkina clinched her first tour title since 2018 on Friday, battling past Czech Marie Bouzkova in three tough sets to lift the WTA Phillip Island Trophy. The 23-year-old rallied from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in an event held at Melbourne Park for early losers at the Australian Open. Kasatkina, who slumped out of the opening Grand Slam of the year in round two, had not reached a final since winning at Moscow in 2018, a title run that had put her into the top 10 for the first time. An extended slump since has seen her fall to world number 75, but she has quietly put together a 18-6 win-loss record since Rome last September. Victory over 50th-ranked Bouzkova was her third career title after Moscow and Charleston in 2017. Ankita wins maiden WTA title, clinches Phillip Island Trophy doubles India’s Ankita Raina on Friday won her maiden WTA title as she and her Russian partner Kamilla Rakhimova clinched the doubles event in the Phillip Island Trophy. The Ankita-Kamilla pair beat Russia’s Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova 2-6 6-4 10-7 in the final. The win will propel the 28-year-old Ankita to top-100 in the WTA rankings in doubles. She will be the second Indian woman player to be in top-100 after Sania Mirza. Ankita had won the ITF doubles title and WTA 125k series title before Friday’s win.