Kasatkina, Mertens claim victories to set semifinal clash in San Jose

Elise Mertens and Daria Kasatkina held their seeds to line up a semifinal showdown at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.

No.1 seed Mertens of Belgium fended off No.8 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 7-6(8) in their quarterfinal clash on Stadium Court in San Jose.

No.4 seed Kasatkina of Russia outlasted Poland's Magda Linette, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to join Mertens in the final four.

World No.17 Mertens needed just shy of two hours to quell the challenge from 35th-ranked Putintseva, reclaiming the lead in their rivalry by collecting her second win in their three meetings. 

Mertens won 74 percent of her first-service points and 34 percent of points returning the Putintseva first serve, which was enough to propel her through two close sets and nudge her over the finish line.

"I just tried to look at it point by point, as it was very important to get a good tactical game against her," Mertens told the media, after her match. "Also to get the first strike, to get her on the run. I think that’s what I did.

"I tried to not make as many mistakes as [in the second round] yesterday, but find the balance of it better than yesterday, to play more aggressively and get more into the court."

The Belgian is now into semifinals of this event for the second time in her three appearances, though it was not as straightforward as it appeared it would be after she turned a 4-0 start to the match into a one-set lead.

Mertens served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but was undone after a flurry of fiery play by Putintseva allowed the Kazakh to pull back level.

In the tiebreak, Putintseva turned an 0-3 deficit in her favor by knocking off five points in a row. Mertens steered back to 6-5, holding a match point, but Putintseva erased that with an unreturnable serve. Bolstered by beautiful backhands, Putintseva garnered two set points at 7-6 and 8-7.

Mertens, though, was not to be denied. The No.1 seed came out on top in all-court rallies to claim the next three points and wrap up the 15-minute tiebreak, moving into her first semifinal since her run to the Istanbul final in April.

"I just wanted to win so badly," Mertens said. "I wanted to win in two sets, she’s a great competitor, bringing back a lot of balls, so I really had to go for it."

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Looking ahead to the semifinals, Mertens said that Kasatkina is "also a great competitor, brings a lot of balls back, but can also strike with that forehand. I’m just going to focus on my game, as I played better today, and hopefully I can get that momentum, try to focus on what I did well. Definitely going to expect a difficult one."

Kasatkina outlasts Linette in three sets

As for Kasatkina, the Russian had to fight past World No.45 Linette in a two-hour and 18-minute battle which opened play on Stadium Court on Friday, leveling their head-to-head at one victory apiece.

With the pair currently separated by only 14 spots in the rankings, 33rd-ranked Kasatkina let a topsy-turvy second set slip out of her grasp before recovering from a break down in the decider to move into her fourth semifinal of the season.

"Every single set was a different story," Kasatkina told the press, after her win. "I had many chances in the second set, I was many times up in the games, but at the end I was not able to close the games, and Magda was the one who was able to.

"In the third set I was down 1-3, and I would just keep fighting, and trying to find any opportunities to come back in the games and the match. It was very tight moments at the end of the third set, and I'm happy that I was better in these moments."

The hard-fought victory helps to continue a resurgent year for former World No.10 Kasatkina, who has picked up two titles in 2021 at the Phillip Island Trophy in Melbourne and at the St. Petersburg Ladies Open, in addition to a runner-up finish in Birmingham. Those results were her first appearances in WTA singles finals since 2018.

After winning the first set, Kasatkina regrouped from an 0-2 deficit in the second set, breaking Linette twice in a row to go up a break at 3-2 and edge closer to the win. However, Linette came alive at that juncture, notching four games in a row to steal the set and tie up the encounter.

Linette kept her momentum in the early stages of the final set, breaking for an early 3-1 lead with a deft forehand winner into the corner. But Kasatkina used all-court wizardry to pull back level at 3-3, then clinched a hard-earned victory with a service break in the last game of the match.

Despite letting 11 of her 17 break points fall by the wayside, that decisive break was Kasatkina’s sixth of the day, which was one more service break than Linette could muster up on the day.

"When the score started to go from 3-1 [to] 3-3 [in the third set], from this point, I started to feel much better," said Kasatkina. "I felt that I'm back, and if I will do a little more steps forward, I will have many chances to close the match."