Kudermetova halts Gauff to reach Doha semifinals

No.8 seed Veronika Kudermetova reached her second semifinal of 2023 with a three-set win over No.4 seed Coco Gauff at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.

No.8 seed Veronika Kudermetova booked her place in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open semifinals with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over No.4 seed Coco Gauff in 2 hours and 4 minutes.

Kudermetova, 25, also reached the last four at Adelaide 2 in January. She will bid to reach her first final since Istanbul last April against No.1 seed Iga Swiatek, who received a walkover from No.7 seed Belinda Bencic. Kudermetova is yet to win a set from Swiatek in two previous encounters.

The result was Kudermetova's first win over a Top 10 player since her defeat of Ons Jabeur in the San Jose quarterfinals last year, and her 11th in total. Her season record is now 9-3.

Match management: Dealing with challenging conditions was a key aspect of the match. Swirling wind caused the ball to move in unexpected ways, and rallies were frequently decided by who could control their technique better in the face of this.

Ultimately, it was Kudermetova's steady, but still aggressive, approach that won out. The World No.11 tallied an even 18 winners to 18 unforced errors, and her ratio remained consistent in all three sets.

By contrast, Gauff's form oscillated more. The American teenager came out on top of several superb improvised points in the second set, finding a series of lobs and passes to deny Kudermetova as she found 13 winners to four unforced errors. However, the first and third sets saw her total 19 unforced errors.

Many of these came off the Gauff forehand, which Kudermetova targeted relentlessly and which broke down all too often. And although Gauff found the answer to Kudermetova's net approaches in the second set, Kudermetova remained committed to coming forwards, and this paid off overall. Appropriately, she converted her first match point with a delicate forehand volley.