There will be an all-Russian quarter-final clash at the French Open after Veronika Kudermetova and Daria Kasatkina progressed at Roland-Garros. Kudermetova fought back from a set down to beat American Madison Keys, who dominated the opening stages. Meanwhile, Kasatkina saw off Italy’s Camila Giorgi in straight sets to reach the last eight of the competition in Paris.
Madison Keys is out of the French Open after an incredible comeback performance from Veronika Kudermetova saw her take victory at Roland-Garros.
The win sets up an all-Russian quarter-final following Daria Kasatkina’s victory over Camila Giorgi.
Keys looked to have benefited from her tough third round tie against Elena Rybakina, seamlessly returning to action and continuing where she had left off in her previous match.
After landing an early break, the American controlled the opening stages of the first set with a strong service game.
With an 81% win percentage on her first serve points, Keys blitzed through the opening set to take it 6-1, leaving Kudermetova with a lot of work to do.
However, on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the Russian rose to the challenge, breaking Keys early in the second before confidently holding her own serve by emphatically volleying away her game point. Belief was reignited, and her roar and fist pump towards her coach’s box emphasised the point.
Despite passing up six set points, Kudermetova eventually got the job done to send the match into a deciding set.
What was to follow was quite sensational, with a shell-shocked Keys unsure of how to cope with her reinvigorated opponent.
Kudermetova instantly broke the American at the start of the third set, before holding her own serve and returning to punish Keys further and race into a 3-0 advantage.
Keys quelled the bombardment from Kudermetova by breaking her back, but it was not to last as she once again threw away her service game. The Russian held, leaving her one game away from her first ever appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final.
Remarkably, Keys was broken again and the turnaround was complete for Kudermetova.
Speaking after the match, she said, “I tried to trust myself; I tried to believe, tried to fight, and I think that was the key.”
When she addressed her box after the turning match in her favour during the second set, Kudermetova was directing her joy at a very familiar face.
“My coach is my husband; I do have another coach, but he’s not here, he’s in the US. We try to split life and tennis, but when we are on the tennis court, we speak about tennis only!” she said.
Kudermetova will face her compatriot Daria Kasatkina in the last eight after the 25-year-old eased past Camila Giorgi in straight sets.
The Italian’s game was littered with errors, best summed up by the way she hit the ball long on match point to gift Giorgi her passage through to the next round.
