Four straight quarterfinals has a nice ring to it for Veronika Kudermetova but it is the means in which she arrived there that has turned heads on centre court at the Adelaide International on Wednesday night.
The fourth seed rolled through 12 straight games from 0-4 down to completely turn the tables on former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 6-4, 6-0.
It came after the newest member of the top 10 claimed the last 10 games to ease past Amanda Anisimova in the first round.
Set the 25-year-old a target in Adelaide and she thrives on reeling it in.
“I’m so happy about my performance today –12 games in a row, it’s something incredible,” Kudermetova said ahead of a quarter-final meeting with Jelena Ostapenko or Irina-Camelia Begu. “When it was 4-0 I said to myself I accept I cannot play really well every day and I mean I tried to fight and that’s it.”
Kudermetova hinted at her potential with a runner-up showing against Simona Halep in last year’s Melbourne Summer Set.
Two further finals and four semifinals helped lift her from outside the top 30 to her career-best mark of world No.9.
“I think last season I improved on the court and off the court,” she said. “Every day I try to be a better Veronika than yesterday and I think the most important is that I try to believe more in myself.”
Aryna Sabalenka earlier also found herself in the midst of a first-set wipeout before she quickly shifted up a gear to beat Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(8), 7-6(3) for an Adelaide International quarterfinal berth.
From 1-5 in the opening set, the second seed came roaring back.
She saved three set points as her 24-year-old opponent served for the set for a second time at 5-4, saved another to level at 5-all and two more in the tiebreak.
As the match passed the 75-minute mark she screamed in delight as her tenacity was rewarded with the opening set.
Despite letting the early break slip in the second set, Sabalenka steadied to hold off the world No.20 to set a showdown with Czech lefty Marketa Vondrousova.
“I mean when it’s 1-5 down it’s like nothing to lose and you just go for your shots without thinking,” Sabalenka said. “I think that’s really helped me to stay in the set and keep fighting, keep trying… It’s definitely tough to start after the bye and especially against a player like Liudmila.
“She’s an incredible player with a huge serve so it was a tough match and I’m super happy with this win.”
Ukrainian qualifier Marta Kostyuk continued her impressive run, recovering from losing a 63-minute opening set to deny Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3, while Vondrousova earlier became the first to advance to the women’s quarterfinals after a dominant dismissal of dangerous Estonian Kaia Kanepi.
Keen to move on from a disjointed 2022 in which she missed six months due to a wrist injury, Vondrousova moved into her first quarterfinal since reaching the Dubai semifinals last February with a 6-0, 6-4 result.
“I’m just so happy to be back playing. It was a very tough time when I didn’t play, so yeah, I’m just very happy to be playing at this level,” Vondrousova said.
“I just really love it here and I was just enjoying playing so much.”
While lacking the firepower to match Kanepi off the ground, the world No.92’s variety and anticipation proved decisive early on as she cantered through the opening set in just 21 minutes.
It took former world No.15 Kanepi until the ninth game just to get her name on the board and while she began to find her range as the match wore on, her run came all too late to force a deciding set.
“You know I was feeling great since the match started. I knew it was going to be tough because she was getting better and better,” Vondrousova said. “I just wanted to stay focused and win as many points as I could.”