“New Homeland” didn’t help. Kasatkina, who abandoned Russia, failed at the Australian Open

Former Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina changed her sports citizenship last year. The transition to a foreign flag was framed with pathos – not without loud words about the “new homeland”. At the beginning of 2026, the athlete had to perform in front of her audience at the Australian Open. At home, as they say, even the walls help, so one could count on at least relative success.

But it seems that there are some other walls in Australia: Dasha failed, losing to the 126th racket in the world in the first round.

“Foreign women” in Australia

The main tournament of the Australian Open has started in Melbourne. In the women’s singles, in addition to several Russians playing in a neutral status, our former tennis players who moved under foreign flags are also fighting for the title. Yulia Putintseva, Elena Rybakina, Varvara Gracheva were joined last year by new “foreigners”: Anastasia Potapova, Polina Kudermetova, Kamilla Rakhimova and, of course, Daria Kasatkina.

Daria, by the way, had to make her debut at the Australian Open in a new status. The other day, Kasatkina received an Australian passport, but she changed her sports citizenship last year. Therefore, she entered the Melbourne court under the Australian flag. Judging by the flow of warm speeches addressed to the “new homeland,” the 28-year-old native of Togliatti really wanted to please the local public. But on the court it didn’t work out very well for her.

On the eve of the Australian Open, Dasha was eliminated in the first round of the tournament in Brisbane, losing to the newly minted Austrian Anastasia Potapova. In Adelaide, she reached the second round, but lost there with two “steering wheels”. In Melbourne, theoretically, one could count on at least an opening victory. In the first round, Kasatkina was confronted by far from the strongest opponent – the 126th racket of the world, Nikola Bartunkova.

Couldn’t stand the pressure

In a match where Kasatkina should have won without problems, she had difficulties already in the first set. Taking her serve, Daria gave the next two games to the Czech. Then she seemed to have straightened out the situation: before the next game she was leading 4:2 on her serve. But the ex-Russian managed to squander this advantage, losing the set in a tiebreaker.

Daria Kasatkina / Photo: © Robert Prange / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In the second set, Kasatkina seemed to be able to prove to everyone that the failure at the start was an accident. The games went differently, but the fact is that the Australian tennis player won all six. After a rapid victory in the second game, it would seem that there was no longer any doubt about the outcome of the confrontation with an opponent from the second hundred in the world ranking.

In reality, everything turned out differently: Kasatkina quickly made a break, but then lost four games in a row. Coming back from a 2:5 score in the deciding set is problematic in any situation. Daria tried and confidently took the serve to zero, but that was where the positive moments ended for her. The Australian tennis player could not withstand the pressure of her opponent and, after a series of mistakes, ended the fight at the tournament. The stands, by the way, didn’t really grieve over this, but warmly greeted the victory of the tennis player from the Czech Republic.