French open: Kasatkina tops Kudermetova to meet Iga Swiatek in semis

Paris, June 1 (IANS): Daria Kasatkina of Russia downed compatriot Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-6(5) at the French Open to reach the last four of Grand Slam for the first time here on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old Kasatkina will meet World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, after Swiatek defeated Jessica Pegula to win her 33rd straight match. Swiatek leads their head-to-head 3-1, with all three of the top seed’s wins coming on hard court this winter.

No.20 seed Kasatkina broke through to her first Grand Slam semifinal, eking past No.29 seed Kudermetova in two close sets earned a first trip to the final four in 2 hours and 8 minutes. Kasatkina improved her head-to-head against her close peer to 2-0, following up a 2021 win in St. Petersburg with the biggest triumph of her career to date.

Kasatkina’s two previous Grand Slam quarterfinal showings resulted in losses to Sloane Stephens at 2018 Roland Garros and Angelique Kerber at 2018 Wimbledon.

“Everything happens for the first time and I’m really happy to be in the semis. Dream coming true and everything is fine,” Kasatkina said after her victory.

“Tomorrow is another mountain in front of me which I have to climb. Maybe it’s even better that I don’t have much time to think about how good (it) is to be in the semifinals, so I have another battle tomorrow,” she said.

“I cannot compare what we are going to have tomorrow and what we had in February, March when we were (last) playing. So it’s going to be a completely different match. I want to win a lot, she wants to win as well, and it’s going to be a good match.”

Earlier, World No.1 Iga Swiatek’s unbeaten run extended to 33 straight matches with a victory over No.11 seed Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals of the French Open here on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Swiatek moved into the French Open semifinals for the second time in her career with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over American Jessica Pegula in Paris.

Swiatek’s win also puts her in sole possession of third in the list of longest WTA winning streaks this century; she shared 32 with Justine Henin’s effort between 2007-08.

Swiatek was tested by Pegula in the 89-minute quarterfinal.

The pair traded serviced breaks to start the match, and the American saved three match points in the second set before succumbing to defeat. In between, though, Swiatek won seven of eight games played to lead 6-3, 4-1.

Swiatek totaled 30 winners to 28 unforced errors and broke Pegula five times on her 11 chances.