Istanbul Final: Potapova to face Kudermetova

Anastasia Potapova beat Yulia Putintseva 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour and 57 minutes to reach her third Hologic WTA Tour final and first in four years at the TEB BNP Paribas Tennis Championship Istanbul.

Veronika Kudermetova, the No. 3 seed, defeated defending champion and No. 2 seed Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 23 minutes in the second semifinal.

Potapova had reached her first two WTA main event finals as a 17-year-old rookie, finishing runner-up to Olga Danilovic at the 2018 Moscow River Cup and Margarita Gasparyan at the 2018 Tashkent Open.

After undergoing ankle surgery in 2020, she has battled with consistency and injuries, and had not reached a tour semifinal since Jurmala in 2019.

The 21-year-old was ranked No.122 when she arrived in Istanbul, a long cry from her career high of No.64 established in July of this year.

She stunned Petra Martic and No.7 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo in straight sets, and she has now reached all three of her WTA finals while ranking outside the Top 100.

Potapova took a set to develop a steady groove against Putintseva. She made 14 unforced errors in the first round, compared to only 12 wins.

Potapova broke through with a 3-1 victory in the second set thanks to a dead net cord return, and she hasn’t looked back since.

Potapova had 21 wins and only nine unforced errors in the second and third sets.

Putintseva, on the other hand, was outstanding on huge points, converting all four of her opportunities and saving 12 of the 18 she faced.

However, the Kazakh’s drop shot and lob skills, which had been crucial in earlier rounds, were absent in the semifinals.

Putintseva made an unusual 24 unforced errors, and while displaying her trademark grit by saving the first eight match points she faced.

Potapova was able to cross the finish line thanks to another inaccurate drop shot effort on the ninth.

“When you genuinely want something, you’re willing to go to any length,” Potapova remarked later. “I’m trying to stay as prepared as possible.”

Kudermetova continues her successful season with her first win over Cirstea

Kudermetova will play in her fifth career final and third in 2022, after finishing runner-up to Simona Halep in Melbourne Summer Set 1 in January and losing to Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai in February.

Naomi Osaka, Garbie Muguruza, Victoria Azarenka, and Marketa Vondrousova have all been victims of the 23-year-old this season, with the 23-year-old reaching her maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Indian Wells.

Kudermetova had lost both of her previous confrontations with Cirstea at this level of Istanbul last year. Both of those stats were quickly corrected by the World No.29.

Kudermetova dominated on serve after an early exchange of breaks in the opening set; from 2-2, she did not face another break point while capturing the Cirstea serve three more times.

Following Charleston 2021, Kudermetova will be seeking her second career title, while Potapova will be seeking her maiden WTA trophy.

The two have met once before, with Kudermetova winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 in the Melbourne Summer Set 1 quarterfinals in January.