In the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, the first day of the tournament saw top seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia battling the local favorite Wang Qiang, and the World No.10 began her campaign in the Azalea Group with a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 victory.

In an exclusive interview with CGTN Sports Scene, Daria Kasatkina, after beating Wang, talked about the tough match against the host country's top player and looked back on the most meaningful victory of her career this year at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. 

The World No. 10 said, "It's always special to win at home and especially this tournament with so much history. In last year, they were playing at the Olympics Stadium. For me, it was special winning there. I remember that very fondly because ten years back I went there as a kid watching some of the biggest names of the game. I was dreaming of playing there one day, and I eventually won a trophy. So that was one of the most unforgettable things."

After her tough victory over Wang, the Russian, known as the "Russian Wall," remarked, "She was the Chinese wall, and that's why it was very tough. Whenever I played against her, it's always big matches, long rallies for two-two and half hours."

"She has got a good record here in China for the past few months. She played a few semi-finals here in some of the tournaments. So I was quite ready to play a five-hour match against her, which was the case actually."