PAN PACIFIC: Iga Swiatek crashed to a 6-2 2-6 6-4 defeat by eighth seed Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the quarter-finals of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Friday.
The top seed, playing in her second match since a fourth-round defeat at the U.S. Open that saw her drop to number two in the world rankings, sprayed the errors around in the opening set as Kudermetova grabbed a double break before going 4-0 up.
Swiatek finally got on board with a hold and looked to mount a comeback but could not prevent world number 19 Kudermetova from taking a set off her for the first time in five meetings.
Kudermetova surrendered the second set tamely, but the 26-year-old found herself ahead in the decider as Swiatek gifted her an early break with a double fault.
The Russian held her nerve towards the end of the contest and finished it off with a superb serve.
“I tried to just believe I can beat her. Today it happened. I’m really happy I managed to switch (the head-to-head) and win one match,” said Kudermetova, who took full advantage of the 50 unforced errors from Swiatek’s racket.
“In the last game, I just focused on playing the point. 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.”
Up next for Kudermetova is Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who reached her first semi-final since her run to the 2021 French Open final with a 6-2 7-5 win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Pavlyuchenkova’s career was derailed last year due to a knee injury that needed surgery, but she battled her way back to peak match fitness on the lower tours before reaching the Roland Garros quarter-finals in June.
Later, American second seed Jessica Pegula dropped her serve in the opening game of her encounter with Daria Kasatkina before producing a ruthless display to seal a 6-1 6-0 victory in 59 minutes and ease into her seventh semi-final of the season.
Pegula meets Guadalajara champion Maria Sakkari, after the fourth seed beat fifth seed Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-2. Agencies
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