The last hero: Kasatkina knocked out Kudermetova in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, and Rublev lost to Cilic in five sets

Outstanding Achievement of Kasatkina

The Russians at Roland Garros managed to pleasantly surprise the fans, because for the first time in four years, two domestic tennis players got into the top eight at the Grand Slam tournament at once - Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova.

Moreover, in the quarterfinals they had to meet each other.

Kasatkina could be called the favorite of the confrontation.

Firstly, on the eve of the competition, she gained excellent shape and gave only 14 games to her rivals in Paris, never spending even an hour and a half on the court, while Kudermetova had to play three games with both Zhu Lin in the first round and Madison Keys - in the fourth.

Secondly, Daria has an incomparably large experience of performing at this level.

The current quarter-final of the TBSH was the third for her, and for the first time in her career, her compatriot made it into the second week.

Finally, the only meeting of the girls before the reporting match ended in victory for the native of Togliatti.

In March 2021, she turned out to be stronger in St. Petersburg - 1:6, 6:1, 6:2.

As a result, Kasatkina confirmed her status as a favorite, although the match turned out to be very difficult and dragged on for more than two hours.

She also came close to dropping a set for the first time in the tournament, but kept her numbers perfect.

The beginning of the meeting was left to Kudermetova, who acted actively and boldly.

It seemed that the burden of responsibility did not put pressure on the girl.

With the score 2:1, she made a break and secured a slight advantage.

Unfortunately for her, Daria did not allow her to develop success and immediately took someone else's serve.

In the following games, the athletes were also close to succeeding at the reception, but remained on their own.

The decisive moment in the game came when the numbers 4:4 were on the scoreboard.

The favorite made the second break, and then confidently brought the matter to victory - 6:4.

Daria, although she did not hesitate to act as the second number, made much fewer unforced errors.

But in the second set, the Russians demonstrated truly women's tennis with a large number of blots and the transfer of initiative from hand to hand.

In the first three games, they never managed to take their own pitch, and the native of Togliatti took the lead - 2: 1.

Then the game calmed down a bit.

The situation repeated itself in the end, when the rivals exchanged breaks.

With the score 5:4, Kasatkina served for the match, but managed to concede.

Immediately Kudermetova took the lead for the first time in the game, but then turned to a doctor for help.

Veronica had to tightly bandage her ankle.

Perhaps this prevented her from extending the meeting.

Daria switched the game to a tie-break, where she put the squeeze on her compatriot.

But she almost lost all her advantage: the first racket of Russia earned five match points and managed to give away four of them.

Only by a miracle, on the pitch of her opponent, did she pull herself together and take the decisive point.

So Kasatkina for the first time in her career made it to the semi-finals of the TBSH, where she will face off with the leader of the WTA rating, Iga Sventek.

“It was clear that the match was very tense, especially the tie-break.

For the last few points, a real struggle unfolded.

I am finally satisfied, this is a very important victory for me.

I am glad for my first entry into the semi-finals of the TBSH, ”the official website of the tournament quotes Daria.

Kudermetov also remains to thank for the game.

She tried to dictate her tennis to her opponent, as evidenced by a more than two-fold superiority in actively scored points - 38:16.

But at the same time, Veronica made an unforgivably many unforced errors - 50.

Rublev's humiliating defeat

The Russian quarter-finals could also take place among men, but on May 30 Daniil Medvedev lost without a chance to Marina Cilic - 2:6, 3:6, 2:6.

Thus, the Russian Federation in the quarterfinals of the men's bracket of the tournament was represented by one Andrey Rublev, who passed Yannick Siner on failure - 1:6, 6:4, 2:0.

A native of Moscow had to avenge his compatriot.

And his chances of success were high, because an experienced Croat was considered a convenient opponent for him.

In six matches, the Russian won four victories, and three times he kept within two sets.

True, in the last meeting, Cilic turned out to be stronger.

In January, he gave the domestic athlete only one game in the third round of the Australian Open - 7:5, 7:6, 3:6, 6:3.

The beginning of the match at Roland Garros was left for Andrey.

He did not immediately adapt to the opponent's powerful serve and in the first games allowed him to make six aces.

However, gradually Rublev found the key to this element of the opponent's game.

With the score 3:2 in favor of Cilic, the Russian earned a double break point, but did not convert it.

Then the situation repeated itself.

However, in the end, luck still smiled at him.

On the third attempt, the Muscovite made a break, and then confidently filed for a set - 7:5.

It is important that Cilic felt out of place.

So, the percentage of winning the first serve was 69% for him, while in the match with Medvedev it was 89%.

In addition, Marin did not have a single break point and made three times more unforced errors than the Russian - 16:5.

When Andrei increased his speed and began to play wide across the court, the Croat obviously did not keep up with him and often ended the rallies with hits into the net or out.

Alas, it did not work out to develop success in the next game.

Rublev quickly allowed Cilic to make a break and take the lead - 3:0.

After that, the ATP tour veteran felt confident and played much more boldly and actively.

The Russian was again not bad at the reception and in three games brought the matter to balance.

But at these moments, the opponent turned on the most powerful serve at a speed of over 200 km / h, which is unrealistic to oppose.

So, with a score of 5:3, he did not realize a triple set point, but still brought the matter to victory.

A native of Moscow was also remembered for his excessive emotions.

After another bad draw, he began to scream loudly and hit his legs hard with a racket several times.

The next set followed a similar pattern.

His outcome was decided by a single break point.

Unfortunately, he was not in Rublev's asset.

In the fifth game, Cilic easily took the opponent's serve.

But Rublev’s reception went completely wrong, because he never even earned a break.

It became increasingly clear that the Croat was forcing him to act in an uncomfortable manner.

The Russian could not show his strengths in any way and sank too far behind the line, rarely entering the court.

He clearly lacked activity.

There was an impression that something was bothering the athlete, while his age-old competitor looked fresher.

But in the fourth game, Rublev finally got angry, and his opponent noticeably slowed down.

Andrei began to act more actively and boldly and no longer hesitated to play the first number.

As a result, he took two games on his pitch to zero, and in two more games he gave Cilic just one point each.

With the score 4:3, he made the long-awaited break, which he lacked so much.

After that, the Russian, who caught courage, confidently restored parity on the scoreboard.

Marina did not have a chance at the reception this time.

In the decisive set, the athletes expectedly avoided risk and confidently took their own serve.

In most games, they did not give each other more than two points at the reception.

However, both still had chances to make a fateful break.

Croat did not convert match points at all.

Then Rublev earned a break, but the opponent escaped.

As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided on the championship tie-break.

Alas, Andrei did not have the slightest chance in it.

The Croatian was again helped by a powerful pitch - he made four aces.

This allowed Cilic to catch the courage - the balls after his strikes flew exactly along the lines.

The Russian, on the other hand, scored only two points, and even those at the start of the tie-break, and only powerlessly pounded the racket on the court.

Rublev was close to making it to the semi-finals of the TSH for the first time in his career, but stopped a step away from this achievement.

Now the country at Roland Garros will be represented by one Kasatkina.