Anastasia Potapova and Veronika Kudermetova will play for the Istanbul Open trophy on Sunday after coming through their respective semi-finals on Saturday.
In her semi-final against Yulia Putintseva, Potapova came from a set down to claim a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory after an hour and 57 minutes of play. Potapova won 62% of her first-serve points and 54% of her second-serve points. Meanwhile, Putintseva won 49% of her first-serve points and 45% of her second-serve points. Potapova failed to save all four break points she faced – three of which came in the first set and one, in the decider – but she also broke the Kazakh’s serve six times to keep herself ahead in the match. Finally, in terms of winners and unforced errors, Potapova wrapped up her win with 33 winners and 23 unforced errors.
Post-match, Potapova shared, “When you want something really bad, you want to do whatever it takes. I’m trying to keep myself ready for anything.”
Istanbul Open: Veronika Kudermetova advances
In the other semi-final featuring the only two seeds remaining in the draw, third seed Veronika Kudermetova ousted the second seed and defending titlist, Sorana Cirstea. Kudermetova needed an hour and 23 minutes to post a 6-2, 6-3 win over the Romanian.
Kudermetova won 71% of her first-serve points to Cirstea’s 64% and 44% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 33%. She faced – and didn’t save – the only break point she faced but managed to make inroads on Cirstea’s serve on four occasions out of the nine break-point opportunities she got.
The Istanbul Open final between Anastasia Potapova and Veronika Kudermetova will be the second time the two will be playing against each other. In their only other meeting, at Melbourne at the start of the 2022 season, Kudermetova beat Potapova in three sets, en route to reaching the final, which she eventually lost to Simona Halep.
Photo Credit: Istanbul Open Twitter