French Open: Five youngsters to watch in the women’s draw

Daria Kasatkina is the next generation Russian to hit the stage

4. Daria Gavrilova (Age: 22 years, Rank: 45)

With oodles of spunk and variety in her game, the 22-year-old Daria Gavrilova has always been singled out as one who can climb the higher echelons of the sport. She validated that last year during the clay season by reaching the semi-finals of Rome and this year, she backed it up with a run to the pre-quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

However, the young Australian found the extra attention following that performance tough to handle. After a few weeks in the wilderness, interestingly it is the red dirt that has sparked off her much-awaited revival.

She stunned Petra Kvitova en route to reaching the Madrid quarter-finals and followed it up with an ouster of Simona Halep in Rome. If the ebullient and energetic Dasha gets going, she can be one tough nut to crack and Madison Keys needs to watch out!

About the author

Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.

Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.

Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.

Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.

When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.

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Edited by Staff Editor