Veronika Kudermetova Upsets Top seed Iga Swiatek to reach semi-finals in Tokyo

Veronika Kudermetova earned her first career win over top seed Iga Swiatek to advance to the semifinals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

Veronika Kudermetova who is World No.19 in WTA rankings raced into the semifinals after upsetting World No.2 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The victory put Kudermetova into her sixth semifinal of the season and first since June.

“No,” Kudermetova said when asked if she deployed any special tactics against Swiatek. “I tried to just believe that I can beat her. Today it happened. I’m really happy that I managed to switch [the head-to-head] and win one match.”

“In the last game, I just focused on playing the point,” Kudermetova said. “I don’t need to hit aces. I think that was the key. I was ready to play the rally, not just finish with the serve.”

Kudermetova will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Saturday’s semifinals. The 2021 Roland Garros finalist advanced to her first semifinal since that magical run by defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

A two-time finalist in 2017 and 2019, Pavlyuchenkova has tapped into her Tokyo form to post wins over Donna Vekic, Linda Noskova, and Alexandrova.