Paris: Veronika Kudermetova reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Madison Keys in the French Open tennis tournament here Monday. In the process Veronika Kudermetova ended the chances of four American women reaching the last eight at the French Open for the first time in two decades.
Keys reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2018 and the quarterfinals the following year. She dominated the opening set but lost rhythm after Kudermetova took a bathroom break before the second set. Kudermetova held and then broke Keys’ serve to take a 2-0 lead in the second set, which she served out on her seventh set point.
Kudermetova broke in the opening game of the third set after being down 0-40 and, with the exception of a service break in the fourth game, controlled the rest of the match.
Kudermetova hadn’t been past the third round in singles at any of her previous 12 major tournaments. Keys was a runner-up at the 2017 US Open and was coming off a semifinal run at the Australian Open.
Meanwhile Daria Kasatkina matched her best performance in a major by reaching the women’s quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Camila Giorgi. The 20th-seeded Kasatkina saved a breakpoint as she served for the match and clinched it on back-to-back unforced errors from Giorgi. She will next play Kudermetova for a place in the semifinals.
“I’m excited about the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and that is most important,” said Kasatkina. She had reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2018. “It doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the net,” Kasatkina added.