World No 12 and seeded seventh, Kasatkina won 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-2, one better than her runner-up Danielle Collins in San Jose last year, lifting her first WTA trophy since St Petersburg last year.
This victory will return the 25-year-old tennis player back to the top 10 in the world tennis rankings.
The 29-year-old Rodgers played in her third WTA final and first since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Kasatkina’s game throughout the court and the skillful selection of shots proved too strong for the strong Rodgers.
The American failed to capitalise on some suspect pitching to Kasatkina early in the game and got worse in longer rallies.
Kasatkina, having beaten off Rodgers from the left, went on a break twice in the opening set, which led with a score of 5-3.
Rodgers saved a set point in game 10 as she leveled in five games apiece, then the American took a 6-1 lead on the tiebreaker.
Kasatkina’s sixth double fault in the match brought Rodgers a number of sets. Rodgers misfired on the first forehand but hit the winning forehand on the second to secure the set an hour and 18 minutes later.
From that point on, however, it was all up to Kasatkina, as she took full advantage of Rodgers’ game.
She broke 3-1 and, unconcerned about her serve, broke again in Game 6 after Rodgers took a 40-0 lead, polishing the set at the first opportunity.
Kasatkina edged ahead of Rodgers to open third and continued skating, capturing sets two and three in almost the same time as first.
She ended the week on her way to the final with post-wins over Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and top 10 players Arina Sobolenko and world No 4 Paula Badosa.
Kasatkina withdrew from the game against Rybakina and Sobolenko and also continued a strong season in which she reached the semi-finals in a row in Rome and Roland Garros.
It was a disappointing end to a good week for Rodgers, who had top 20 aces of the tournament in her first four matches.
En route to the final, she went undefeated in a set, beating former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and top seed Maria Sakkari along the way.