Veronika Kudermetova and Daria Kasatkina set up quarterfinal meeting

James Richardson
May 30, 2022

French Open 29th seed Veronika Kudermetova overcame American Madison Keys to book a quarterfinal at Roland Garros.

Kudermetova will face compatriot and 20th seed Daria Kasatkina in the last eight.

Keys was swept aside 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 by Kudermetova in one hour and 41 minutes.

Kudermetova reaches her first Grand Slam quarterfinal as a result.

Kasatkina saw off 28th seed seed Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-2 to ensure she reached her third Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Despite being born in the same year and coming through the ranks together, Kasatkina and Kudermetova have met just once on the WTA Tour.

Kasatkina is arguably the more accomplished of the two on tour and says she has grown a lot as a player and a person in her time on the WTA Tour.

“If we talk about me changing in the past six years, honestly I don’t remember myself six years ago,” Kasatkina said.

“But watching the matches from the past I can see that I’m making a bit better decisions in the important moments. Physically, I think I become better, I’m improving, I’m working a lot. So I think from my point of view this is the main changes.”

Kasatkina made the last eight at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2018 but endured a slump that saw her slip out of the top 50 during 2020.

She has since clawed her way back reaching four WTA Tour finals in 2021 and appearing in a Masters semi-final for the first time in Rome in May.

Kasatkina strengthened her head-to-head against Giorgi to 2-0, having also bested the Italian in the 2020 Lyon quarterfinals.

Giorgi snapped a seven-match losing streak at tour-level in the opening round at Roland Garros but falls to 1-3 in Grand Slam fourth rounds.

However, Giorgi has now reached the second week of every major except the Australian Open.

Kudermetova also enjoyed a good 2021 when she captured her first WTA title in Charleston. She has continued that progress this year, reaching finals in Melbourne, Dubai and Istanbul and making her WTA 1000 quarterfinal debut in Indian Wells.

Kasatkina won the only professional meeting between the two to date with Kudermetova last besting her when they were both in the Under-14 age group.

Daria Kasatkina Veronika Kudermetova