Libema Open: Alexandrova and Kudermetova from Russia compete against each other
DEN BOSCH, The Netherlands –
Ekaterina Alexandrova will defend her Libema Open title against fellow Russian and top seed Veronika Kudermetova after both reached the final on Saturday without dropping a set all week.
No. 4 seed Alexandrova defeated No. 7 Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-1, 7-6 (1) by taking her chances at a break point, three out of five. She denied all five to Sasnovich, who played her first semifinal of the year and first ever on grass.
Alexandrova will play for her fourth WTA singles title on Sunday. She beat Kudermetova in the semifinals here last year on her way to the title.
A tournament top seed for the first time, Kudermetova knocked out Slovakia’s unseeded Viktoria Hruncakova 6–3, 6–2.
Hruncakova failed to convert all six of her break chances, while Kudermetova took four of her five to make up the difference.
Kudermetova won her only WTA singles title in 2021 in Charleston and has since lost three finals, all last year. She is ranked 14th, 12 places ahead of her Billie Jean King Cup teammate Alexandrova.
The men’s final throws the sixth seeded Tallon Grepe from the Netherlands against Jordan Thompson from Australia.
Greek track defeated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 7-5 and Thompson eliminated compatriot Rinky Hijikata 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Greek track has reached the second ATP final of his career after winning in Pune in January, and Thompson has a chance to make up for his only other final appearance here in 2019.
