Iga Swiatek’s return to tennis after an early US Open loss hit the buffers in Tokyo, with the top seed humbled 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in Friday’s WTA quarter-finals..
World No. 2 Swiatek, who went out in an Open fourth-round upset, lost to an opponent whom she had defeated four times, with Kudermetova winning a total of 10 games.
But the eighth-seeded underdog took her revenge in just under two and a half hours, breaking three times and helped by six double-faults from the Pole.
“I tried to just believe that I can beat her. Today it happened,” the winner said.
“I’m really happy that I managed to switch (past results) and win a match.”
The tone was established in the first set, with Swiatek plagued by 20 unforced errors as she lost serve twice in the opener.
The final set was a repeat of the first, with Swiatek handing over a double-fault to fall a double break down on the way to defeat.
Kudermetova set up a semi-final date in the capital against two-time finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who advanced over Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5 in their quarter-final.
