It was evident from the first minutes of the match that Angelina was completely rested after a 4-hour marathon with Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarterfinals. At the beginning of the first game, Kudermetova served well, as expected, this cannot be said for Kalinina. Until the 8th game, the Ukrainian player had problems in the service.
In the 3rd game, Angelina scored twice and left the service at 15:30. In match 3, the Ukrainian apparently failed to notice a breaking point, which partially affected his confidence. Angelina got 3 break points in the 4th game and 5 in the 6th game, but she saved everything and managed to keep the score.
In the seventh game, Angelina took a break and began to determine the course of the game herself. Realizing that Kudermetova was playing poorly enough on the second ball, she began to take the serve more accurately and pull the rallies in her favor.
In game 8, Angelina finally calmly spent her game on the serve and took a 5:3 lead. But it was not possible to immediately turn off the Russian woman. After Angelina served, Kudermetova timed out and the score was 5:5. Veronika immediately took the lead with 30:0 in the 11th match, but… Kalinina won 4 points in a row, one of which was in the super rally at 15:30, and then went into the match!
— Internazionali BNL d’Italia (@InteBNLdItalia) 19 May 2023
Kudermetova looked lost. Yet how many times did Kalinina kick the ball over the Russians when she went to the net? Presumably, Veronica wouldn’t lose a rally that way, even in doubles matches. The coach and husband of the tennis player from 404 did not even begin to suggest anything to Kudermetova when she gestured towards boxing. All She could give was: “I don’t know what you want, look for the questions yourself.” Well, several times he tried to cheer up his wife with “kamons”, but Angelina could no longer be stopped.
In the second set, Angelina saved a breaking point in game 4 and went to the ball… Guess how? Right! Throwing Kudermetov again! And then Angelina took a break from 0:30 and then successfully served, leading 4:2, looking at the Ukrainian fans, shouting “kamon” and feeling the taste of the impending victory.
The tennis players quietly won 2 games each and Angelina went to serve for the match. Easy, as expected, it didn’t work. But above all it shocked me. The Ukrainian lost 12 points in a row: dropped his serve under 0, lost under 0 at reception and flew under 0 in the 12th game. And in total the Ukrainian lost 16 points in a row, losing the 9th match without luck. This very imminent victory, as it turned out in the end – walked away with 8 matches.
Angelina took a toilet break (5 minutes), changed her clothes, revealed her emotions (which can be seen on her face as she left the room under the stands), went to court, got a 40:0 lead at the reception and played a match. A time-out is given at the start of the third set from the 4th break point.
It’s unclear what happened at the end of the second set, but it doesn’t matter. Angelina again believed in herself, again began to fly on the field, and as a result – 4:0! It was not possible to take a break for the 3rd time in a row and stay 6-0, but this is not very important either. Kalinina did not lose, plus or minus calmly took her serve, the score was 5:1, Kudermetova the serve was 5:2 (four times the score was 40:40, but without breaking points), but there was no return and this could not happen. Kalinina went to the service and dispersed Kudermetova! 6:2 and the much desired finale!
With such a game from a Ukrainian, it is quite possible to count on a title. Angelina is pleased with her consistency in draw, confidence, fighting spirit, not the strongest, but accurate and smart tennis!
It was the third meeting of tennis players. Angelina won the 2nd duel.
For the first time in her career, Kalinina will play the final at the WTA 1000 tournament level. Her victory over the 12th racket of the world is Angelina’s highest-rated victory in her career.
In the thousandth cup match in the capital of Italy, the Ukrainian will play with the winner of the match Elena Rybakina – Alena Ostapenko.
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Wawrinka, who is in the final season of his career, won in 4 hours and 33 minutes in a five-set thriller against Arthur Gea (France, ATP 198) in the second round of the Aus Open. This fight is the longest fight in slam so far.
This match marked the 49th five-setter match of Stan’s career in Grand Slam tournaments; He surpassed Roger Federer (48) and became the sole owner of the Open Era record in this indicator.
Since the introduction of the 128-player draw across the four Grand Slams in 1987, Wawrinka became the oldest player to achieve multiple wins at a single major, at 40 years and 296 days.
Stan started AO-2026 with a victory over Laszlo Gyore. His next opponent will be world number 9 Taylor Fritz.
Australian Open 2026. 1/32 final
Arthur Hea (France) [Q] – Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) [WC] – 6:4, 3:6, 6:3, 5:7, 6:7 (3:10)
Besides Cilic and Wawrinka, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic from Serbia also qualified for the 1/16 final at the Aus Open on January 22. After the end of the match day, Novak published a post in his story with the match result and Marin and Stan’s results and signed:
“There is no coup without the old man” translated from Serbian means: “There is no coup without the old man.”
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Bartunkova and Bencic played each other for the first time.
Belinda lost her first match of 2026. She started the season in the United Cup, where she defeated Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini, among others.
19-year-old Nicola started the Aus Open with the qualifiers. In the first round of the main draw, Bartunkova will compete with Elise Merets after eliminating Daria Kasatkina.
For the first time in her career, Bartunkova beat a tennis player in the top 10 of the WTA rankings. This was also the first defeat of a tennis player ranked in the top 10 at the Australian Open.
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(Melbourne) Denis Shapovalov lost sharply 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2 to Marin Cilic in the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament on Thursday.
Shapovalov, the 21e seeded in the tournament, fell to the Croatian, who was finalist at Melbourne Park in 2018, thus leveling the record between the two tennis players at 3-3 in their careers.
As for Cilic, who is 37 years old, he reached the third round of the first major tournament of the season for the first time since 2022. He will face the winner of the duel between the Spaniard Jaume Munar and the Norwegian Casper Ruud, 12e seeded.
The Canadian did not seem to be in his right mood during his match against Cilic. He was notably limited to 12 winning shots, committed 42 unforced errors, and seven double faults during their match.
Moreover, Shapovalov was very generous towards his opponent, 70e world racket. He conceded six breaks in 12 chances to Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open winner, and converted only two of his six break points.
For the 26-year-old Ontarian, it was a fourth defeat in his last five matches.
There is therefore only one representative of the maple leaf left in the singles tables of the Australian Open: Victoria Mboko.
The Ontarian, the 17e seeded, will face the Danish Clara Tauson, 14e seeded, in the third round in the evening on Thursday.
Her compatriot, the Ontarian Gabriela Dabrowski, and her Brazilian playing partner, Luisa Stefani, will play their second round doubles match against the French Elsa Jacquemot and the Colombian Emiliana Arango, in the evening.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
