Tennis
The brightest victory for Russia! Our tennis player took the title at the WTA Final Tournament
Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens / Photo: © Matthew Stockman / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
A brilliant point in a successful season.
In 2025, Russian tennis player Veronika Kudermetova paired with Belgian Elise Mertens won the Wimbledon tournament. At the end of the season, our athlete had a chance to take another cool trophy: on Saturday, victory in the WTA Final Tournament in pairs was at stake.
Veronica and Elise rallied after a difficult semi-final and still snatched victory.
Fresh rivals
On Saturday, November 8, the doubles final of the WTA Final Championship took place in Riyadh. The rivals of Veronica Kudermetova and Elise Mertens were Timea Babos and Louise Stefani. Both pairs took second place in the quartets at the group stage, and both defeated higher seeded opponents in the semi-finals.
Kudermetova and Mertens, by the way, were higher in the rankings than Babos and Stefani, and in personal meetings the Russian and Belgian had an advantage – 1-0. But one should not discount the fact that on the eve of the most important confrontation of the season, Veronica and Elise played a very difficult semi-final match late in the evening.
They managed to beat Katerina Sinyakova from the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend from the USA only in the championship tiebreaker. While the girls were fighting on the court, the opponents in the final were already resting. Their semi-final ended a few hours earlier, so they should have come into the battle for the trophy fresher.
Victory in tiebreaker
Already in the third game, the Russian-Belgian duo managed to win a break point. A little later there was an opportunity to take another serve from the opponents, but in the decisive play Kudermetova sent the ball into the net. And at the end of the eighth game, Babos and Stefani made a reverse break, taking Mertens’ serve to zero. When the Hungarian’s serve flew after that, I became completely worried about Veronica and her colleague.
Fortunately, Kudermetova’s serve was fine. Mertens would have acted more confidently on the return, but even with the slightly sluggish Belgian at the decisive moment, the girls were able to take the game on Stephanie’s serve, and then earned a triple set point. But Elise missed the right chance to take the lot without unnecessary difficulties. Athletes from Russia and Belgium had to suffer a little more in the tiebreaker.
Without the steering wheel
The hardest game was won on Veronica’s serve. And the second set began with Kudermetova’s confident serve. Then there was an early break on Babos’ serve, which the Russian and Belgian immediately confirmed. There was a chance to take Stephanie’s serve, but the Brazilian and Hungarian pulled themselves together and did not allow their rivals to dream of a “steering wheel.”
However, with each play there remained less and less doubt about the outcome of the confrontation. The Russian took another serve to zero, Babos’ game went completely wrong, it was almost impossible to miss a victory in such a situation. Kudermetova and Mertens missed nothing, winning the set with a crushing score of 6:1. Afterwards it was time for hugs, congratulations and awards. Veronica and Elise certainly deserve all this.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
Four representatives from Ukraine were included in the qualification list Australian Open 2026.
Yulia Starodubtseva (WTA 113), Angelina Kalinina (WTA 127), Daria Snigur (WTA 153) and Vitaly Sachko (ATP 153) will compete for the Australian Open main draws.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Major qualifiers in Melbourne will be held from January 12-17.
The place at the heart of the Australian Open 2026 is guaranteed by four Ukrainian tennis players: Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, Dayana Yastremskaya and Alexandra Oleynikova.
Home page for Australian Open 2026 qualifiers (women)
Home page for Australian Open 2026 qualifiers (men)
Source: Sport UA
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.
Ukraine’s first racket Elina Svitolina (WTA 14) became the “Opening Week” participant of the Australian Open 2026.
On January 14, 2026, the Ukrainian will play an exhibition match against Amanda Anisimova (USA, WTA 4) at the tournament’s main stadium, Rod Laver Arena.
The meeting will be held in the format of two standard sets as the deciding game and a super tiebreak up to 10 points.
There will also be four more exhibition matches: Elena Rybakina – Zheng Qingwen, Alexander Zverev – Lorenzo Musetti, Carlos Alcaraz – Alex de Minaur, Jannik Sinner – Felix Auger-Aliassime.
After the match between Svitolina and Anisimova, Rod Laver Arena will host the AO 1 Point Slam tournament, where tennis stars Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Daniil Medvedev, Zheng Qingwen, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jasmine Paolini will compete against amateurs.
Source: Sport UA
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.
Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced the list of all award winners for the 2025 season.
World number one Arina Sabalenka was chosen as the best tennis player of the year. Hendrik Vleshouwers, coach of American Amanda Anisimova, received the best coach award.
Anisimova received the Progress of the Year award, while Victoria Mboko received the Newcomer of the Year award. Katerina Sinyakova / Taylor Townsend couple was chosen as the best duet of the season.
WTA Awards 2025. All award winners
- The best tennis player of the season – Aryna Sabalenka
- Best Duo of the Year – Katerina Sinyakova / Taylor Townsend
- Progress of the Year – Amanda Anisimova
- Rookie of the Year – Victoria Mboko
- Comeback of the Year – Belinda Bencic
- Diamond Aces (promoting tennis both on and off the court) – Coco Gauff
- Peachy Kellmeier Award (for contributions to WTA players) – Gabriela Dabrowski
- Karen Kranzke Sportsmanship Award – Jessica Pegula
- Georgina Clarke Mother of the Year Award (awarded to retired female tennis players) – Nicole Pratt (Australian coach)
- Coach of the Year – Hendrik Vleshouwers (Amanda Anisimova’s coach)
- Pet of the Year (singles) – Zheng Qingwen
- Favorites of the year in pairs – Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini
- Shot of the year – Carolina Muchova (vs. Clara Towson in WTA 1000 semi-final in Dubai)
- Match of the year – Coco Gauff vs. Zheng Qingwen (WTA 1000 semi-final in Rome – 7:6 (7:3), 4:6, 7:6 (7:4))
VIDEO. Shot of the year from Carolina Muchova
This Thursday I’m offering you a tweener throwback 🤩
Only @karomuchova7 things 🙂↕️#ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/TUfY7Q02Rh
— wta (@WTA) November 13, 2025
VIDEO. Match of the year from Coco Gauff and Zheng Qingwen in Rome
Source: Sport UA
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.
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