As I promised in my latest post I am gonna feature another really promising WTA Rising Star in my blog today. Daria Gavrilova of Russia or Dasha has taken the world of tennis by storm this year with her magic forehand and her unique playing style. Winning 2 ITF 50K Titles and reaching SF and R16 in two premier events(Rome and Miami) is now ranked no 37 in the world and she is 28th in the current Road to Singapore.But,lets take the things from the beginning.
Success in the junior level
Dasha was born on 5th March of 1994 in Moscow. She made her first big un at 15 years of age when she reached the French Open 2009 Girls Final being defeated from Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 6-2. Despite the loss Dasha stroke back the next year winning the gold metal at the Youth Games in Singapore and the Us Open.
She beat many WTA Stars in her road to the Gold Medal then ,including current world no17 Elina Svitolina. After the Singapore dream the US Open came to top it. She survived the seed scare and with her amazing semifinal win over Sloane Stephens(2013 Aus Open Semifinalist) she won Yulia Putinitseva easily 6-2 6-3 to win her first Major in the Junior Level in New York.
Struggling to succeed as a Pro
After her triumph in New York she started playing more matches on the Pro Circuit but without doing something big. She won a 10K ITF title in 2011 and she played as a WC in some WTA tournament qualifying but without success.Also,as a junior she emerged victorious with Iryna Khromacheva at the French Open in 2012 Girls Doubles,winning her second junior level Major.In 2013 she played more WTA events in qualifying sometimes getting in the Main Draw and sometimes not. She even managed to play against Serena Williams,losing easily of course. Her highlight of the season was making the 2nd round of the Australian Open in just her 1st Major main draw in the Pro level.In 2014 she missed the first half of the season but she bounced back winning Sacramento 50K in doubles in her first tournament in 6 months.Also,she won an ITF 25K title and starting from the qualifying rounds she reached the R16 in the wta premier Event in Tokyo,losing to Carla Suarez Navarro.
2015:The year breakthrough
Dasha's game was finally shown off to the world. She started the year by getting through the qualifying in Brisbane,making it to the R16 but losing to world no9 Angelique Kerber,however not without causing some trouble to the top 10 player. Next week in Sydney she made the R16 again without playing in qualifying. After her win over Belinda Bencic she again fell to Angelique Kerber but she was really near to victory after taking the first set and pushing the second in the tie-break.She fell in the 1st round at the Australian Open but after that she won two consecutive ITF 50k titles entering into Doha quailes in a 10 match winning streak.Then,she extended her streak to 13 and qualified for the Main Draw in the Qatar Total Open,losing her opener to Elina Svitolina.
Playing style and weaknesses
Dasha has a beautiful and really captivating play. She can play offensive and come to the net while her great footwork makes her a great defender as well.Her best shot is forehand beyond doubt with which she can play amazing angles from every side of the court.Also,she is great in using it to get to the net,where she is really good. Her reflexes are great and she covers it really well.Her serve is not a big weapon but with clever placement she is able to get some easy points. As I said she is a very good defender too. She is not very tall so running all around the court isn't a problem for her. She has developed her footwork well so she can run for very ball and take it with the forehand so to attack.While her backhand isn't her best aggressive shot the slices she puts on it make it a great defensive tool. Dasha' s game has not many weaknesses but it is a type of play that needs time to work on it for example one of Daria's favourite shots can be the running forehand, which is a really difficult shot that needs time to master it. That is probably the reason she didn't have many good results after her success in juniors till now.Moreover,her backhand is very erratic when she uses it to attack, but she seems to have find solutions with the use of slice and drop-shots smartly.
Expectations
Dasha is a really good young gun who can have success in the future.However, she is already 21 and she is still ranked outside the top 30,while other younger players like Belinda Bencic and Madison Keys are in the top 20 and have better runs in Premier tournaments and Grand Slams. Personally,I expect from Daria to be in the top 10 in a few years and why not to get further..
WISH YOU ALL THE BEST DASHA!!!!!
Success in the junior level
Dasha was born on 5th March of 1994 in Moscow. She made her first big un at 15 years of age when she reached the French Open 2009 Girls Final being defeated from Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 6-2. Despite the loss Dasha stroke back the next year winning the gold metal at the Youth Games in Singapore and the Us Open.
 |
| Daria with the gold metal at Youth Olympics 2010 in Singapore. |
 |
| Dasha with her Us Open Girls trophy |
Struggling to succeed as a Pro
After her triumph in New York she started playing more matches on the Pro Circuit but without doing something big. She won a 10K ITF title in 2011 and she played as a WC in some WTA tournament qualifying but without success.Also,as a junior she emerged victorious with Iryna Khromacheva at the French Open in 2012 Girls Doubles,winning her second junior level Major.In 2013 she played more WTA events in qualifying sometimes getting in the Main Draw and sometimes not. She even managed to play against Serena Williams,losing easily of course. Her highlight of the season was making the 2nd round of the Australian Open in just her 1st Major main draw in the Pro level.In 2014 she missed the first half of the season but she bounced back winning Sacramento 50K in doubles in her first tournament in 6 months.Also,she won an ITF 25K title and starting from the qualifying rounds she reached the R16 in the wta premier Event in Tokyo,losing to Carla Suarez Navarro.
2015:The year breakthrough
 |
| Dasha winning her first 50K ITF title at Burnie |
 |
| Dasha after beating world no3 Maria Sharapova for her 1st top 10 win |
After failing to qualify in Kuala Lumpur she settled off to Indian Wells when the dream started. After qualifying to the main draw of the Premier Mandatory event she won Silvia Soler-Espinosa to set a clash with world no3 Simona Halep. The 21-year old Russian won the first set easily but the world no3,known for her intense fighting spirit turned it around. This was a good experience for Dasha who showed for another time that she can be a danger to the top players.Next was Miami, a tournament that Dasha will never forget for the rest of her life probably. She won her first match versus Marina Erakovic to meet her country's biggest star and 5-time Grand Slam winner,world no3 Maria Sharapova(Halep passed her after Indian Wells).Everyone expected it to be an easy match for Sharapova but Dasha didn't think like this.So,she beat Masha 7-6(4) 6-3 after a brilliant performance stunning the tennis world.She then won Kurumi Nara to advance to the R16 where she fell to Karolina Pliskova.
 |
| Dasha after beating McHale to make SF in Rome |
She didn't play a match for all the month April returning to Cagnes-sur-mer ITF 100k to make QFs .
Then,she entered the qualifying draw of WTA Premier Rome having only 3 matches on clay. She had another great tournament winning Nara,Espinosa,Bencic,Ivanovic(7),Bacsinzsky and McHale to make the semifinals of the premier event. This marks her best run in a tournament so far.Her forehand was beautiful throughout the tournament and she got noticed by more tennis fans especially after her second top10 win over Ana Ivanovic world no7.
Then,she made the 2nd round at the French Open equalling her best result in a Grand Slam.The grass court season started great for her who got into the main draw in Eastbourne as a lucky loser and reaching the QFs but withdraw due to an abdominal injury.She then dropped opener at Wimbledon,Istanbul and Stanford,however she won her 1st WTA doubles title in Istanbul with Elina Svitolina. Full of confidence after her 1st WTA Title(in doubles) she had a great week at Toronto reaching the R16 after beating former world no4 Samantha Stosur and scoring her 3rd top 10 win over Lucie Safarova(world no8) but falling to an in-form Roberta Vinci.Next,in Cincinatti
Playing style and weaknesses
 |
| Daria hitting her favourite shot |
Expectations
Dasha is a really good young gun who can have success in the future.However, she is already 21 and she is still ranked outside the top 30,while other younger players like Belinda Bencic and Madison Keys are in the top 20 and have better runs in Premier tournaments and Grand Slams. Personally,I expect from Daria to be in the top 10 in a few years and why not to get further..
WISH YOU ALL THE BEST DASHA!!!!!
