It’s taken a total of three hours and 44 minutes for Veronika Kudermetova to reach the Round of 16 at the 2022 US Open. Blink and you may have completely missed the No. 18 seed’s third-round match, a 47-minute dismantling of Hungary’s Dalma Galfi in which she dropped only two games.
To some, it may be a surprise that she’s one of the last 16 players in a Grand Slam draw, especially considering that she had never before won a main draw match on the courts of Flushing Meadows. But in this, her fourth US Open, she wields a different brand of tennis that has separated her from her competition: an untouchable service game.
After three rounds of play, Kudermetova has yet to drop serve in 27 service games. Against Galfi, she won all 24 of her first-serve points. What’s more impressive is that she has struck 17 aces and 68 winners, faced only two break points and dropped only 15 games this week. Certainly no easy feat at a major.
Thus far, each of her first three opponents—Donna Vekic, Maryna Zanevska, and Galfi—rank outside the Top 80. The next stop on Kudermetova’s itinerary will be her toughest test yet at the US Open, a meeting with No. 5 Ons Jabeur. On paper, Jabeur appears the unquestionable shoo-in, especially given the week she’s had in New York. Against her first three opponents, Jabeur has struck 77 winners and converted on 19 of 43 break point chances.
But Kudermetova owns a 3-0 record against the Tunisian, all in straight sets. Their most recent match came just one month ago in the quarterfinals of San Jose, which Kudermetova claimed 7-6, 6-2.
When asked if their history factors into her mind heading into Sunday’s contest, Jabeur admitted that it’s not something easy to ignore.
“I mean, it does, for sure. The thing is the pressure on her, she always won against me, and now I feel like I really need to listen to what [my coach] Issam [Jellali] has to say to really figure out how I'm gonna win this one. In Grand Slams, sometimes you just have to keep fighting and just get the win even, you know, playing ugly.”
Playing ugly just might be exactly what it will take for Jabeur to finally notch her first win over the strong-serving Kudermetova. It will all come down to how the No. 18 seed handles the pressure of the fourth round in a major. While it’s new territory for her in New York, it isn’t her first this year.
The 25-year-old has managed to piece together an impressive 2022 season that includes a quarterfinal finish at Roland Garros and wins over Top 10 players on all three surfaces. In addition to reaching the finals at Melbourne Summer Set 1, Dubai, and Istanbul, Kudermetova also finished in the semifinals at San Jose. Along the way, she’s claimed wins over the likes of Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa, and Garbiñe Muguruza, to name a few.
Indeed, Kudermetova is a dangerous player lurking in the women’s draw. With her confidence high and her serve unyielding, it could be the winning combination she needs to keep the streak alive.
