Kasatkina tops Kudermetova to make first major semifinal at French Open

No.20 seed Daria Kasatkina broke through to her first Grand Slam semifinal Wednesday after holding off No.29 Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-6(5) at Roland Garros.

In her 26th appearance at a major, former Top 10 player Kasatkina earned a first trip to the final four in 2 hours and 8 minutes.

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," Kasatkina said after her victory. "Dream coming true and everything is fine."

Stern test next: 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.

"Tomorrow is another mountain in front of me which I have to climb," Kasatkina said. "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.

"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."

Winning ways: Kasatkina and Kudermetova each came into Paris in good form. Kasatkina nearly reached the Rome final two weeks ago before falling just short to Ons Jabeur, and she started the day with 22 match-wins on the season, fifth-best on tour. Kudermetova, who has reached three finals this year, was right behind with 20 match-wins in 2022.

Kasatkina, though, had showed supreme skills this fortnight, dropping only 14 games en route to the quarterfinals. Only three players this century had lost fewer games en route to the Roland Garros quarterfinals: Mary Pierce in 2000 (13), Dinara Safina in 2009 (five) and Serena Williams in 2013 (10).

Kasatkina entered the match with an unblemished history against Kudermetova. Kasatkina defeated Kudermetova in their lone previous tour-level encounter on her way to the St. Petersburg title last season. Kasatkina had also prevailed in their three meetings on the junior circuit between 2011 and 2013.

Match breakdown: Kudermetova fired two aces in the first game, and her power game led her to an early break. But Kasatkina used uncommon depth and pristine placement to pull back level, and she broke for 5-4 after a rally forehand crosscourt winner. Kasatkina grabbed a gritty hold in the following game to win the opener.

Another tough tussle went Kasatkina’s way when she broke for 2-1 in the second set on her fifth break point of that game. Kasatkina held that advantage up to 5-4 when she served for the match, but Kudermetova amped up her play there, cracking returns off shorter serves to break for 5-5.

In the second-set tiebreak, Kasatkina drew errors to build a commanding 6-1 lead. Once again in peril, Kudermetova turned up her aggression, and she swatted away four straight match points. But on the fifth match point, Kasatkina wrapped up a 26-stroke rally with a drop shot, which Kudermetova returned into the net.

Kasatkina was able to convert only five of her 17 break points, but that would still be enough to outpace Kudermetova, who broke serve four times. Kudermetova had 22 more winners than Kasatkina, but her 50 unforced errors doubled Kasatkina's 25.

"It was tough to manage because basically I wanted to win a lot, and in these moments you feel like the win is slipping out of your hands," Kasatkina said. "Just happy with the way I stayed on the court and didn't put myself in the situation where I was like disappointed and stuff. So really happy with this mental part of myself."