Surprise at the beginning of the year: Kudermetova reached the final of the WTA tournament for the first time in her career

Veronica Kudermetova will compete for the victory in the final of the first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in the 2021 season, which is being held in Abu Dhabi.

The Russian woman needs to outplay the Belarusian Arina Sobolenko in order to earn $ 68.5 thousand and get 470 rating points.

This will allow the 23-year-old native of Kazan not only to win her debut trophy in singles at major tournaments, but also to break into the top thirty of the world's tennis for the first time in her career.

However, Kudermetova has already become the main star of the tournament in the UAE.

Having started moving along the grid from the first round, she knocked out much more rated rivals - Estonian Anette Kontaveit (tenth seeded) and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (second seeded and fifth in the WTA ranking).

At the same time, Garbinier Mugurusa, who topped the list of the best tennis players on the planet in 2017, and Sofia Kenin, who won the Australian Open-2020, failed to break through the quarterfinals in Abu Dhabi.

They alternately lost to Maria Sakkari, and Karolina Plishkova covered the racket after a confrontation with the little-known Russian Anastasia Hasanova who had made her way through the qualification.

At the WTA tournaments, Kudermetova has never advanced so far in singles, except for the victory at a modest 125,000 in Mexico.

The four previous semifinals ended in defeats for the Russian woman.

Accordingly, regardless of the outcome of the decisive match, she will renew her career maximum in the world classification.

At the start of the tournament, Kudermetova occupied the 46th line, however, overcoming round after round, she rose in the intermediate protocols.

The victory in the semifinals on Tuesday over the promising Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (7: 6, 6: 4) has already brought Veronica to 36th place and allowed her to become the second racket of Russia - Svetlana Kuznetsova was left behind.

If she succeeds in the match against Sobolenko, the Russian woman will not only break into the top 30, but will also bypass Ekaterina Aleksandrova (1845 points against 1775), receiving the status of the strongest in the country.

True, outplaying Sobolenko in her current form is an extremely difficult task even for elite tennis players.

The Belarusian has issued a third appearance in the final in a row, after successful performances in Ostrava and Linz at the end of 2020.

At the same time, she won 14 matches in a row and issued the longest streak in her professional career.

Prior to that, Arina won 13 times in a row at ITF tournaments in 2015, when she was not included in the top 500 tennis players in the world.

And from the point of view of experience, the Minsker looks more seasoned: out of 12 finals at the highest level, she left behind eight.

Having added in psychological stability, becoming more concentrated and collected on the court, and also flexible tactically, Sobolenko turned into an athlete with practically no weaknesses.

And therefore, at the end of 2020, it rightly claimed the title of the best tennis player of the year.

Now, if successful, she will become the seventh racket of the planet - she has not yet reached such a high position in the ranking.

Nevertheless, it is premature to write the Belarusian into the undisputed favorites of the pair, since the headquarters of Kudermetova has been preparing her ward for each new rival.

Obviously, this was helped by the invitation to cooperate on an ongoing basis with Vladimir Platenik, known for working with Alexandra Sasnovich, Anna Blinkova and Daria Kasatkina.

Before, neither the tennis player, well, her husband and coach Sergei Demekhin had the financial ability to make Platenik a full-fledged member of the team.

Now the situation has changed for the better - and this has also positively affected the quality of Veronica's game.

Therefore, even difficult meetings, where the percentage of the first serve fell below 50%, and mistakes were made when playing for a match, Kudermetova remained in the UAE tournament.

In addition, the Russian woman has a positive balance when meeting with rivals from the elite group.

Against girls from the top 10 of the WTA ranking, Veronica has so far held eight meetings, five of which she ended with victories.

The same rivals who represented the top five of the planet, Kudermetova invariably beat them - 3: 0.

However, it is difficult to imagine how the match against Sobolenko will turn out: the rivals have never met before.

“We have friendly relations and I think we will have an interesting and exciting match.

Personally, I have no specific expectations regarding the final match.

Arina is in the top ten, plays just incredible and shows a very good level here, ”Kudermetova said.

“I think the pressure on her is a little more than on me, because tomorrow they expect victory from her.

She remained in the top ten and has already won two tournaments in a row.

Tomorrow I will play freely, I will try to relax and enjoy the finale, ”she added.

Note that the last time Russian tennis players got to the title confrontations at the prestigious WTA tournaments was a year ago.

In Chinese Shenzhen, Ekaterina Aleksandrova outplayed Elena Rybakina, representing Kazakhstan, and won her debut career title.

In 2021, thanks to Veronika Kudermetova, the parallel suggests itself.