Vapours are a normal phenomenon: how Kudermetova took the highest title in her career

Veronika Kudermetova won the Grand Slam doubles title for the first time in her career and became the seventh Russian woman with such an achievement. Thanks to her success at Wimbledon, Veronica returned to the top 5 of the doubles rankings and, for sure, will again represent Russia at the final tournament of the year. Mirra Andreeva also rose to the top 5 of the women's singles, winning four matches at the British major. Andrey Rublev returned to the top 10, and Karen Khachanov almost caught up with Daniil Medvedev, who failed in London.

Long-awaited success

Kudermetova and Mertens had a very successful period playing as a pair. In 2022, they reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, won the "thousandth" in Dubai and the Final WTA tournament. After the victory in the USA, the Russian-Belgian duo suddenly broke up. Veronica played in an alliance with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Lyudmila Samsonova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhan Haoqing. With the latter last year, they qualified for the Final in Saudi Arabia, losing in the semifinals to Taylor Townsend and the current world number one in doubles, Katerina Sinyakova. This year, Kudermetova performed in pairs with Anastasia Potapova, Ena Sibahara and the same Zhan Haoqing. It didn't work out with the representative of Taiwan this time. The pair were eliminated in the first or second round, so Kudermetova paired up with Mertens again in Madrid for the first time since 2022. And it worked again.

The Russian-Belgian pair immediately reached the final of the Madrid Open, including beating the second-seeded Paolini./Errani is in the 1/8 finals. However, it was not possible to replenish my collection of titles. In the championship tiebreak of the decisive match of the Spanish "thousandth", the girls allowed Anna Kalinskaya and Sorana Kirsta to win the largest doubles title of their careers. Nevertheless, in Rome, Kudermetova and Mertens reached the finals again, proving themselves to be one of the most stable couples of the tour.

At Roland Garros, the girls stopped at the quarterfinals stage and came to Wimbledon as the eighth seed. In singles, Veronica lost in the second round to Emma Navarro, but Mertens reached the second week, where she was stopped by future finalist Arina Sobolenko. However, Elise's advancement in the singles tournament bracket did not prevent the Russian-Belgian duo from fighting on two fronts. In the 1/8 finals, they eliminated 11th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maya and Laura Siegemund, and in the quarterfinals, they defeated one of the main favorites of the tournament, Erin Rutliff and Gabriel Dabrowski. In the semifinals, there was a difficult duel with Desiree Krawczyk and Olivia Gadecki. After losing the first set, Veronica and Eliza allowed their opponents to take only three games in the remaining two games.

They were not the favorites in the final. Taiwan's Xi Suwei has been at the top of the doubles rankings for more than a year, winning seven Grand Slam tournaments, including four wins at Wimbledon. Olena Ostapenko, on the other hand, could become number one in the pair for the first time if she won the final. Therefore, the motivation of the Latvian woman was exorbitant. She almost single-handedly won the first set, turning the tide of his fight on her serve (Kudermetova and Mertens led 3-1).

In the fourth game of the second game, Kudermetova converted a break point with a great game at the net (3:1). Immediately, Xi Suwei and Ostapenko could have made a reverse break, but the Russian-Belgian duo stood on their serve. The rivals then exchanged breaks. And with the score at 5-2, Mertens started her serve at 0:40. However, after that, the girls made a powerful comeback and did not postpone the victory in the game for a long time.

The third set was held with the advantage of Xi Suwei and Ostapenko. They took their serve much easier. While Kudermetova and Mertens had to put in a lot of effort. For example, they won the third game in only 10 minutes, having played four break points. But in the fifth, Veronica and Eliza easily lost their serve. Just a few minutes later, Si and Elena consolidated their advantage and opened their way to the title (4:2). But then the fans saw another comeback. Kudermetova and Mertens won four games in a row. With the score 4-3, they equalized the score by making a break to zero. And at 5-4, it came to "even", and Veronica played very coolly twice to intercept at the net.

Veronika Kudermetova won the Grand Slam doubles title for the first time in her career and became the seventh Russian woman with such an achievement. Previously, Vera Zvonareva (three times), Ekaterina Makarova (3), Elena Vesnina (3), Anna Kournikova (2), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2) and Dinara Safina (1) managed to do this.

— When the match ended, emotions took over. I almost burst into tears, but then I saw Elise [Mertens] — she was crying, so I decided to restrain my emotions," Kudermetova said.

Great result

Following the results of the tournament, Kudermetova rises to fifth place in the doubles ranking (6435 points). Diana Schneider is also in the top 10, ranking ninth (5325). Mirra Andreeva (4719) and Irina Khromacheva (4045) are in the top 20.

Mirra lost one position in the doubles ranking, but gained in the singles. On Monday, July 14, Andreeva debuted in the top 5. Previously, the best result of an 18-year-old Russian woman was the sixth place in the rating — Andreeva rose to it for the first time in March this year. At Wimbledon, Mirra reached the quarterfinals, losing to Belinda Bencic.

—Mirra showed great results by reaching her debut quarterfinals of Wimbledon,— Olympic champion and winner of Wimbledon 2017 in doubles Elena Vesnina told Izvestia. — She showed very confident and mature tennis. She played very calmly, although her opponents were experienced and famous. It's a pity that she was unlucky in the match against Bencic, where the Russian lost in two tie-breaks, but it will be a good lesson for her.

It is also worth noting that Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, rose from 50th place to 30th. Lyudmila Samsonova from the 19th to the 17th. In the ATP singles ranking, Andrey Rublev became the best of the Russians, who rose from 14th to 10th place. At the Wimbledon tournament, the 27-year-old Muscovite reached the fourth round and lost to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Another Russian, Daniil Medvedev, dropped out of the top 10, dropping to 14th position. Medvedev lost to Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi at the start of the tournament.

But Karen Khachanov, who performed the best of our team (he lost to Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals), rose from 20th to 16th place. He is only 40 points away from Medvedev.