French Open: Daria Kasatkina reaches maiden Grand Slam semis after winning all-Russian battle

Daria Kasatkina has reached her first Grand Slam semi-final, posting a convincing win over 29th seed Veronika Kudermetova in an all-Russian battle at the ongoing French Open 2022 on Wednesday.

The 20th seed, who last reached a major quarter-final in 2018, continued her dominant run in Paris with a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Kasatkina was only able to convert five of her 17 break points, but that were still enough to outpace Kudermetova, who broke serve four times. Kudermetova had 22 more winners than Kasatkina, but her 50 unforced errors were double of Kasatkina's 25.

The former top-10 player was broken while serving for the victory at 5-4 and had to manage her nerves when Kudermetova took a lengthy medical timeout. Kasatkina was due to serve at 5-6.

Kasatkina raced to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreak but things got tense as Kudermetova saved match points and cut her deficit to 5-6. But Kasatkina unleashed a deft drop shot out of nowhere to secure the win in two hours and eight minutes.

Kudermetova had snapped a three-match losing streak with her opening-round win in Paris and was through to the second week at a major for the first time.

Kasatkina's two previous Grand Slam quarterfinal showings resulted in losses to Sloane Stephens at 2018 Roland Garros and Angelique Kerber at 2018 Wimbledon.

She will face either top seed Iga Swiatek or American Jessica Pegula for a place in her maiden Grand Slam final.

( With inputs from ANI )

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