The top-seeded Iga Swiatek (Poland) was eliminated by Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) in the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis in Tokyo with a prize fund of 780,000 USD.
The 8th-seeded Russian tennis player eliminated the Polish tennis player, who is world’s number two, by 2-1 (6:2, 2:6, 6:4).
After Veronika Kudermetova won the first set, the 22-year-old Polish player equalized after winning the second set. Veronika Kudermetova took an early break in the third set by 2:1 after double fault of Iga Swiatek. The Russian kept her advantage until the end to win the match.
“I didn’t have any new special tactics. I was just trying to stay confident that I could win against her and it happened. I’m very happy that I was able to turn the tide and record this victory against Iga”, commented Veronika Kudermetova.
Thus, for a place in the final, Veronika Kudermetova will face her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated another Russian, Ekaterina Alexandrova, by 2-0 (6:2, 7:5) and reached her first semi-final on the WTA Tour after the final of 2021 French Open / Roland Garros.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a two-time runner-up in Tokyo in 2017 and 2019, underwent knee surgery last season but is gradually regaining her form this campaign.
The second-seeded Jessica Pegula also advances to the semifinals after a convincing win over Daria Kasatkina (Russia) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:0). In the semi-finals she will face the 4th-seeded Maria Sakkari (Greece), who eliminated Caroline Garcia (France) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:2).
