Daria Kasatkina is building up to a tennis masterpiece

“Dasha can decide,” he said, using Kasatkina’s nickname. “She can put the ball high, low, slow, short, whatever she wants, but she cannot hit the ball to those girls so they can hit it here.”

This is, of course, more difficult than it seems. Controlled power typically trumps finesse in women’s tennis. See Serena Williams’ results over the past 20 years or, for a more recent example, Jelena Ostapenko’s big-swinging and risk-ignoring upset of Simona Halep in last year’s French Open final.

But an antidote appears to be brewing, and Kasatkina, a 20-year-old Russian, is a big part of the mix.

She has power, as anyone who has watched her rip a topspin forehand can attest. But she also has a wide array of solutions and strokes, including wicked drop shots, and a gift for rhythm shifts that borders on the musical.

She is in the midst of a hot streak and in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open after consecutive victories over Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki, the past two women to win Grand Slam singles titles.

With a 6-4, 7-5 victory on Tuesday, Kasatkina, the 20th seed, gained her second win against Wozniacki this season. “She outsmarted me today, which is fair enough,” Wozniacki said.

She is hardly alone. Kasatkina also beat Ostapenko in the third round of last year’s U.S. Open and defeated Garbiñe Muguruza, the 2017 Wimbledon champion, on her way to the final in Dubai last month.

That means that since September, Kasatkina has beaten all four reigning major champions. She also beat Halep, now the world No. 1, in Wuhan, China, last fall.

“In the beginning it was really tough because I was really nervous going on the big stages, on the big courts against the big players,” Kasatkina said. “But now with experience, with the time, I’m getting into it.”

Kasatkina is set next week to become the highest-ranked Russian for the first time, at around No. 15. She is ranked 19th, one spot behind Svetlana Kuznetsova, and could break into the top 10 if she defeats Angelique Kerber, another former No. 1, in the quarterfinals Thursday and goes on to win the title here.

Insiders already know Kasatkina is a big-time talent, but outsiders will soon figure out that she is an entertainer as well.

“I think when people will see her regularly in the Grand Slams, they are really going to gravitate to her because her game is really atypical,” Dehaes said. “She likes the show. She likes the jump backhands, the drop shots. She plays this way naturally, but it’s festive tennis. I insist on leaving her a lot of freedom when she plays, but she has to create, has to make things happen, really like an artist. I compared it to an empty canvas a few days ago, and I said she can make whatever art on that canvas that she wants as long as it’s beautiful.”

Dehaes, a Belgian, became Kasatkina’s full-time coach late last year after she split with Vladimir Platenik, a Slovakian who coached her for three seasons.

Dehaes has worked with a string of prominent Belgian players, including Kristof Vliegen, Xavier Malisse and Christophe Rochus. Dehaes first saw Kasatkina in December 2013, when she came to Belgium seeking financial backing from a foundation that he was familiar with.

After testing her for two weeks, Dehaes submitted his report: “I said that I had never seen a talent like Daria. Really incredible, and it’s being confirmed now.”

He said what persuaded him was her performance in a Belgian tournament during that two-week testing period.

“The best girls were around 500 in WTA, so it was a good national competition,” Dehaes said. “And during this competition there were three or four people watching her to see if she had the ability to receive financing, and for a kid who is 14 or 15, that is incredible pressure. And she won the tournament with such maturity and self-assurance that I said to myself, ‘Here we have someone special.'”

Although the foundation was unable to reach agreement with Kasatkina and her family, Dehaes kept close track of her in the coming years as she won the 2014 French Open junior title and broke into the top 100.

Kasatkina said her new coach had helped her confidence, pounding the table Tuesday as she described his upbeat message. But Dehaes said he was happy that she had not called him on court during the Stephens and Wozniacki matches.

“I’m super proud of this,” he said. “The main goal for this girl is to win one of the four Grand Slams, and no on-court coaching is allowed at the Grand Slams. So that’s a good sign.”

For now, Kasatkina has yet to get past the fourth round at a major, but if she can remain healthy and in form, her game should translate well to clay and the French Open.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.