Veronika Kudermetova dispatches Marta Kostyuk 7-68 6-4 in the semifinal in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Kudermetova will square off with Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
Live score progression and stats
Veronika won the set after recovering 2 times from a break down. In fact, after dropping her serve in the 4th (1-3) and in the 10th (5-5) game, Veronika broke back in the 5th (2-3) and in the 7th (4-3) game before bringing the set at the tiebreak that she won 10-8.
There was an important spell in this set when Veronika won 4 consecutive games in the 1st set so as to bring the game count from 1-3 to 5-3.
Tiebreak
Veronika won 7 minibreaks in the 1st (1-0), 8th (4-4), 9th (5-4), 12th (6-6), 13th (7-6), 17th (9-8) and 18th (10-8) point. On the other side, the Ukrainian won 5 minibreaks in the 3rd (1-2), 7th (4-3), 10th (5-5), 11th (6-5) and 14th (7-7) point.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6, 7-6, 7-7, 8-7, 8-8, 9-8, 10-c
They contested 92 points. It’s worth to point out that, Veronika won this set even if she scored less points 4 than Marta (44-48). The Russian dropped 24 points on serve (24-24). On the losing side, Marta conceded 20 points on serve (24-20).
Kudermetova was in a great position at the beginning of the set to break Kostyuk in the 2nd game (2-0) before consolidating her break and lead 3-0. Nevertheless, that wasn’t sufficient for Kudermetova to win the set because Marta managed to break back in the 5th (2-3) and in the 9th (4-5) game. The Russian kept her focus to break Marta in the 6th (4-2) and in the 10th (6-4) game.
They played 63 points. Veronika won 9 more points than Marta (36-27). Kudermetova dropped 16 points on serve (19-16). Regarding the other side of the net, the Ukrainian conceded 17 points on serve (11-17).
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
At the end of the match, Kudermetova scored 80 points vs. Marta’s 76.
Veronika was effective when converting 56% of the break points that she procured (5/9). On the other side, the Ukrainian didn’t lose the concentration in converting 67% of the break points that she procured points (4/6). However, that was not enough to win the contest.
After this match, the head to head between Kudermetova and Kostyuk is 1-0 for Veronika.
Kudermetova’s Interview
Draw and next match H2H: Veronika Kudermetova vs. Aryna Sabalenka – stats
Kudermetova will compete against Sabalenka in the final.
This will be the 2nd time that Veronika Kudermetova and Aryna Sabalenka square off. The head to head is 1-0 for Sabalenka (see full H2H stats), 1-0 on hard.
The last time that they locked horns, Sabalenka won 6-3 6-3 in the 1st round in Antalya back in 1970.
Tennis Scores in Abu Dhabi
- Veronika KudermetovaKudermetova – Marta KostyukKostyuk (7-68 6-4) – Stats and score progression
- Aryna SabalenkaSabalenka – Maria SakkariSakkari (6-3 6-2) – Stats and score progression
Upcoming matches
- Aryna SabalenkaSabalenka – Veronika KudermetovaKudermetova (0-0) – H2H details and stats