Kudermetova Stuns Pegula For Tokyo Title

Russian Veronika Kudermetova earned one of her best career wins easing past the favored Jessica Pegula in straights 7-5, 6-1 to win the Tokyo title Sunday.

“Jessica is a great player, she’s a great fighter, and I prepared myself for the fight,” Kudermetova said to the WTA. “When it was 5-5 in the first set, I just said to myself, ‘Veronika, you just need to fight, you just need to do everything that you can,’ and I did.”

The 8th-seeded Kudermetova lost just 13 total points on serve, faced just one break point and was 4 of 5 on break chances.

The 26-year-old Kudermetova came out firing breaking early only to see if get back on level. She then broke to win the opener and pulled away behind five love holds.

Kudermetova won eight of the last nine games from 5-all in the first set to claim her 2nd career title after Charleston in 2021. This was her 7th career final. Pegula, who falls to 0-2 against Kudermetova in tour-level matches, was gunning her 4th career title.

“I’m really happy because before, it was not an easy time for me, it was really tough moments,” Kudermetova said. “Now I’m really happy and I have a lot of motivation for the next weeks.”

Kudermetova earlier upset the top seed Iga Swiatek as well. She has won five of her last six against Top 10 opponents.

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