privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\nEnable cookiesAllow cookies once<\/p>\n
And so it was heartwarming to watch and listen to the Melbourne crowd support the 28-year-old until the very last moment of her first-round match against the 19-year-old Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova. Kasatkina has said she likes to be called Dasha rather than Daria \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s just less formal\u201d \u2014 but it seems her new supporters have gone with Dash. <\/p>\n
\u201cCome on Dash!\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s go Dash!\u201d \u201cLove you Dash!\u201d they chanted, and then waited to take selfies afterwards. The result didn\u2019t go her way \u2014 Bartunkova won 7-6 (9-7), 0-6, 6-3 \u2014 but it was that interaction, Australia\u2019s tennis community welcoming their new star, which felt like the real win here.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah [I felt the love], honestly, and I enjoyed it,\u201d said the world No43, who last year got engaged to Natalia Zabiiako, a former competitive figure skater who won silver at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018. <\/p>\n
![\"Daria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/08f80952-c912-4a4e-a721-967d61f5eb67.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy, grateful and free,\u201d Kasatkina wrote on Instagram as she announced her Australian citizenship last week<\/p>\n
DARIA KASATKINA\/INSTAGRAM<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel more nervous than I usually feel. I was excited. You know, the support actually helped me. Unfortunately, now I have to wait for another year to experience this again. Obviously I had higher hopes but, yeah, sport is like that. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have been [here] for a bit less than a year [Kasatkina was granted permanent residency in March 2025 and announced that she would represent Australia at all tennis events] and I\u2019m honestly very impressed. Coming from, let\u2019s say, a different background, the difference is just \u2026 we can\u2019t compare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe development of tennis in Australia is just unmatched. Honestly, it\u2019s so cool. I\u2019m super happy and proud to be a part of this community right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the verdict on \u201cDash\u201d? \u201cI need an Aussie nickname, so we need to come up with some Aussie nicknames,\u201d Kasatkina, the former world No8, said. \u201cThere\u2019s one Dash already: Dash Saville [the world No198, another Russian-born Australian]. Yeah, we need to work on it because I need a new one, for sure. For Aussies. Even shorter than it is [already].\u201d<\/p>\n
In the first set, the nerves from player and crowd alike were palpable. It was like watching a puppy with its new owner, neither quite sure how to make the other feel at home. Kasatkina struggled with her serve \u2014 six double faults and no aces tell the story \u2014 and her ball-striking was tentative. <\/p>\n
But at a set down, things became freer. With the crowd\u2019s record player stuck on \u201cAussie, Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi,\u201d Kasatkina turned on the aggression, was brave on her second serve and began dictating things. Six games in a row for the new Australian and we were all square.<\/p>\n
![\"2026](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/39612391-4d2a-493a-b6f9-fd3fa32b9b1a.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Kasatkina won the second set to love against Bartunkova but failed to capitalise on that momentum in the decider<\/p>\n
ROBERT PRANGE\/GETTY<\/p>\n
From there, things fell apart a little, with Kasatkina suffering with cramp. \u201cIt\u2019s stress, waiting around basically for, I don\u2019t know, about 12 hours,\u201d she said, referencing the fact that of the 128 matches played in the first round, hers was the last to start. When it did, it was on a different court to the one she had been preparing for all day.<\/p>\n
As the match came to its conclusion, Kasatkina was out of the Australian Open. But the Aussies hung around to ask for selfies and say their goodbyes for now. Luckily for them, Kasatkina is just getting started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daria Kasatkina\u2019s welcome party finally arrived at 25 minutes to midnight when the Aussies cheered, smiled and waved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-381437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}