Daria Kasatkina reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final on Wednesday with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) vic-tory over fellow Russian, Veronika Kudermetova.
The 25-year-old Kasatkina, ranked at 20, will face either world number one Iga Swiatek or Jessica Pegula for a place in Saturday’s championship match.
Kasatkina, playing in her third career quarter-final at the Slams but first since 2018, has made the semis without dropping a set.
Kudermetova was in her first quarter-final at the majors and the tension was apparent as she commit-ted 50 unforced errors and had to save 12 of 17 break points.
“You could see that the match was really nervous and tight, especially the tie-break,” said Kasatkina, a former junior champion in Paris. “The last few points were super-tight. I’m happy at the end that I won. I’m happy to be in the semis for the first time. She added: “My box were pretty nervous, espe-cially at the end.
Thank you guys and keep calm – it’s OK!”The 25-year-old Kudermetova needed a medical timeout at 5-6 in the second set and battled to save four match points in the tiebreak. Kasatkina, however, secured victory on her fifth match point courtesy of a sweetly-timed backhand drop shot.—APP
