Veronika Kudermetova


Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova is a Russian professional tennis player.
Kudermetova has won one major doubles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2019 Wuhan Open, partnering with Duan Yingying. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 39, achieved on 11 November 2019, and a best doubles ranking of No. 23, achieved on 14 October 2019.
In Singles. she made her WTA main-draw debut at the 2018 Stuttgart Open, and in doubles, she made her WTA main-draw debut at the 2014 Kremlin Cup, partnering with Evgeniya Rodina.
Playing for Russia at the Fed Cup, Kudermetova has a win–loss record of 0–2.

Career

Kudermetova was born to Eduard Damirovich Kudermetov, a Russian national ice hockey champion. She started playing tennis at the age of eight.

2013

Partnering Evgeniya Rodina, Kudermetova won her first $50k tournament at the Kazan Summer Cup, defeating Alexandra Artamonova and Martina Borecká in the final. In the same tournament, she reached the semifinals as an unranked wildcard.

2014: Successful transition to the ITF Circuit

Kudermetova reached consecutive ITF 10k finals at Antalya at the start of the year, and after several strong performances, she cracked the world's top 500 for the first time in her career. Playing in her first ITF 100k tournament at the President's Cup, she reached the quarterfinals before falling to compatriot and eventual champion Vitalia Diatchenko.
She ended the year at the 343rd spot in the rankings with a 24-14 win-loss record, lifting her maiden ITF title in the process.

2015: Struggles for a breakthrough

2015 saw Kudermetova failing to win a single title on the ITF Women's Circuit as she had a disappointing 15-15 win-loss record with just one final reached. Her year-end ranking was 400.

2016: Success on the ITF Circuit, WTA 125k debut

After a lackluster start to the year, Kudermetova made her first final of the year at Andijan in May. It was followed by consecutive ITF 25k titles in Imola and Astana, ensuring that she moved into the world's top 300 for the first time in her career. A fourth final of the season in Telavi marked Kudermetova's continuous rise. Her ranking soon made it possible for a direct admission into the main draw of the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger, which is her debut on the WTA Tour. She won her first match against Varatchaya Wongteanchai before losing in the second round.
Overall, she enjoyed a 34-18 win-loss record in 2016 with a total of 2 ITF titles. Her year-end ranking improved by a total of 190 spots, ending the year at the 210th spot.

2017: Grand Slam debut, WTA debut

Her Grand Slam debut came at the Australian Open, where she lost in the first round of qualifying. Attempting a transition onto the WTA Tour, she played qualifying in multiple events but failed to reach the main draw in all of them. Kudermetova won her first qualifying round at the French Open but fell in her next match. She reached her first WTA 125K series quarterfinal at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger to end off the year.
Kudermetova had a 28-24 win-loss record for the year, failing to reach any finals but also making more appearances at tournaments on the WTA Tour.

2018: Top 30 win, first WTA main-draw win

After starting the year with a triumph at the ITF 25k event at the Keio Challenger, she successfully qualified for her first WTA event at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, a Premier event. Riding on her momentum, Kudermetova stunned top-30 player Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round before putting up a strong performance against eventual champion and top-ten player Karolína Plíšková.
Kudermetova reached the final round of qualifying at the French Open for the first time in her career, where she fell to Barbora Krejčíková. Another big win soon followed as she beat defending champion Anett Kontaveit in the first round of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships. Furthermore, she went on to stun Belinda Bencic in her next match, reaching her first WTA quarterfinal. She soon reached yet another WTA quarterfinal at the Ladies Championship Gstaad, where she defeated Viktória Kužmová before falling to Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets.
She had a 34-23 win-loss record for the year, gaining her first success on the WTA Tour and making her transition onto the main tour.

2019: Top 50 debut, first Premier-5 doubles title

Kudermetova started the year with a quarterfinal run at the Shenzhen Open after qualifying for the main draw, defeating higher-ranked compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the process. She qualified for the main draw at the Australian Open for the first time in her career, losing to Sofia Kenin in the first round.
At the WTA 125k event in Guadalajara, Kudermetova was unseeded but still managed to lift the biggest title of her career by defeating Marie Bouzková, 6-2, 6-0 in the final. Consecutive WTA quarterfinals came at the Ladies Open Lugano and the İstanbul Cup
Her first wins in a Grand Slam main draw came at the French Open when she beat Caroline Wozniacki, the 13th seed, in the first round, and Zarina Diyas in the second. Despite winning the first set, Kudermetova was defeated by veteran Kaia Kanepi in the third round.
In July 2019, she reached the second round at Wimbledon, where she was beaten by Wozniacki. Prior to that, Kudermetova exceled at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, making the semifinals where she was defeated by eventual champion Alison Riske.
Kudermetova and Duan Yingying won the doubles title at the Wuhan Open, beating newly-crowned US Open champions Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka in the final. It was their first time playing together, and Kudemetova's first doubles title. It took her inside the top 25 in the world doubles rankings for the first time. She reached the third round in the singles competition, which also took her to a career high ranking. In the tournament, Kudermetova beat Belinda Bencic for her first career Top 10 win.
It was a fantastic Asian swing for Kudermetova as she reached two semifinals at the Japan Women's Open and the Tianjin Open respectively. To end off her first full season on the WTA Tour, the Russian stunned World No.4 Elina Svitolina in the second round of the Kremlin Cup and reached the quarterfinals as a result, falling to compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
A 44-25 win-loss record saw Kudermetova ending the year as the second highest-ranked Russian, lagging just behind Pavlyuchenkova, at the 40th spot with three WTA semifinals and one WTA 125k title.

Fed Cup

Playing for Russia at the Fed Cup, Kudermetova has a win–loss record of 0–2. She made her debut in February 2014, losing to Australia's Samantha Stosur in straight sets in their World Group first-round tie. She was also nominated to represent her country during the 2018 Fed Cup World Group II, but was only selected to play a dead doubles rubber alongside Anna Kalinskaya.

Personal life

Kudermetova is married to her coach Sergey Demekhin, who previously coached Vera Zvonareva.

Performance timelines

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.

Singles

Current through the suspension of the 2020 WTA Tour.
Notes
2013: WTA ranking–671.

Doubles

Significant finals

Premier-Mandatory /Premier-5 finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

WTA career finals

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–12019 Volvo Car Open – Doubles|Charleston Open,
United States
PremierClay Irina Khromacheva Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Alicja Rosolska
6–7, 2–6
Loss0–22019 Ladies Open Lugano – Doubles|Ladies Open Lugano,
Switzerland
InternationalClay Galina Voskoboeva Sorana Cîrstea
Andreea Mitu
6–1, 2–6,
Win1–22019 Wuhan Open – Doubles|Wuhan Open,
China
Premier 5Hard Duan Yingying Elise Mertens
Aryna Sabalenka
7–6, 6–2

WTA 125K series finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Doubles: 4 (4 titles)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1Mar 2014ITF Astana, Kazakhstan10,000Hard Olga Doroshina7–6, 4–6, 6–7
Win1–1Mar 2014ITF Astana, Kazakhstan10,000Hard Olga Doroshina7–6, 7–6
Loss1–2Jun 2015ITF Andijan, Uzbekistan25,000Hard Barbora Štefková5–7, 3–6
Loss1–3May 2016ITF Andijan, Uzbekistan25,000Hard Sabina Sharipova5–7, 0–6
Win2–3Jul 2016ITF Imola, Italy25,000Carpet Michaëlla Krajicek6–4, 6–2
Loss2–4Jul 2016President's Cup, Kazakhstan25,000Hard Alyona Sotnikova2–6, 3–6
Win3–4Sep 2016Telavi Open, Georgia25,000Clay Deniz Khazaniuk7–5, 6–4
Win4–4Mar 2018Keio Challenger, Japan25,000Hard Harriet Dart6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 27 (16 titles, 11 runner–ups)

Fed Cup participation

This table is current through the 2020 Fed Cup
Legend
World Group
World Group Play-off/
Qualifying Round
World Group II
World Group II Play-off
Europe/Africa Group

Singles (0–3)

Top 10 wins