Russian tennis players delighted Europeans. The audience gave a standing ovation

The Russian final at the tennis tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Holland, was expected with particular trepidation. Veronika Kudermetova has recently gained momentum, and Ekaterina Aleksandrova has already won here in 2022. Spectators longed to see bright tennis, and their expectations were fully justified.

Veronica and Ekaterina showed a powerful game with an interesting plot. They received a standing ovation, and it was absolutely deserved.

And the match was interrupted twice due to the weather.

No clear favorite

Kudermetova, the 14th racket of the world, on the way to the main match of the tournament knocked out the American Alison Riske, the Canadian Karol Zhao, the Swiss Celine Nef and the representative of Slovakia Victoria Kuzhmova. Not a single match lasted up to three sets. Alexandrova also passed another Russian woman Evgenia Rodina, Australian Kimberly Birrell, tennis player from the United States Emina Bektas and Belarusian Alexander Sasnovich.

Before the final, the opponents met three times. On clay and hard, the victory remained with Kudermetova, but on the grass in last year’s semi-final of the Dutch tournament, Alexandrova triumphed. This time the bookmakers gave a slight advantage to Veronica. However, many experts did not see a clear favorite in the pair and gave extremely cautious predictions for the outcome of the final.

– Of course, it is difficult to play against each other when you know your opponent well. Veronica and Ekaterina met on the courts more than once. It’s hard to pick a favorite here. Alexandrova has already won in the Netherlands, Kudermetova plays very well on the grass, – Elena Vesnina, Olympic champion in doubles, told Match TV.

Break for an hour

The start of the meeting had to be postponed due to bad weather. When the match nevertheless started, it became clear that no one was going to concede. Alexandrova took her serve, Kudermetova took hers, and then she also made a break. But Veronica failed to consolidate the advantage. After her double error on the pitch, Ekaterina equalized the score – 2: 2.

Kudermetova almost lost another game, but after 15:40 she took control of the situation and pulled out a victory. Having won another game outright, Veronika was close to winning the first set, but the rain again made adjustments in the game: with the score 4:2 in favor of Kudermetova, the match was paused.

About an hour later, the game was resumed. Veronica finished what she started: the exchange of games ended in her success with a score of 6:4.

Pause for Catherine

The swing game continued in the second set. With a score of 2:2, Kudermetova managed to carry out a cool cross attack into an empty part of the court and for the first time in the set she took the lead. The next game lasted for 13 minutes: the opponents could not decide who was more worthy to take two innings in a row at 40:40. As a result, luck sided with Catherine – 3:3.

Photo: © Frank Molter / dpa / Global Look Press

Then Alexandrova took the lead, the rivals exchanged games, and the match was stopped again – again due to rain. True, this time the pause lasted only 10 minutes. The mini-break benefited Alexandrova, who took the tenth game and celebrated her success – 6:4.

Second time in a row

The third set, like the previous two, went in an absolutely equal fight. Ekaterina took the game, Veronica recouped. On their pitch, both girls acted almost unmistakably. Up to the score 6:6!

Everything was decided in a tie-break. Here, luck turned to Alexandrova, who, with a score of 5:3, filed an ace, and her opponent charged into the net in the next draw. 4:6, 6:4, 7:6 (7:3) – this is the result for Catherine, who wins in ‘s-Hertogenbosch for the second time in a row!