BEIJING, China - Daria Kasatkina has ended her three-year partnership with coach Vladimir Platenik and has hired Belgian Philippe Dehaes. The 20-year-old will reunite with Dehaes at the Kremlin Cup.
Kasatkina said the decision to part ways with Platenik was a gradual one. "It was coming slow, without realizing," Kasatkina told WTA Insider after her second-round win at the China Open. "We worked for three years. It was quite a successful time.
"But a few months ago I looked in the past and I realized my improvement stayed in one spot. We sat down and we decided it would be better if we split and I would try something else."
Now ranked No.34, Kasatkina was ranked outside the Top 300 when she teamed up with Platenik, a veteran coach who had also worked with Dominika Cibulkova. Kasatkina broke into the Top 100 a year later as a talented 18-year-old, and has enjoyed the best season of her career in 2017. She won her first title at the Volvo Car Open in April, where she beat eventual French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and has tallied three Top 5 wins this season.
"I will come to Moscow with my new coach Philippe Dehaes," Kasatkina said. "He used to work with Steve Darcis and Maryna Zanevska. I really don't want to lose time. Moscow is one of my favorite tournaments - I used to play this tournament when I was a little kid - and I want to prepare well for this tournament."
"[Dehaes] was the first person I was thinking about because when I was 17, half a year before I met Vlado, I used to work with him. I was happy to keep working with him but there were some problems on the side so we couldn't continue. Now we are quite happy that we are able to cooperate.
"He's from Belgium, but I want to stay and train in Slovakia. We will somehow find a way."
