World No. 46 Russian Veronika Kudermetova commented on her two matches against Ekaterina Alexandrova at Roland Garros. In singles, she lost 2/6, 2/6 in the third round, while in doubles with Elise Mertens, they defeated Alexandrova and Peyton Stearns (3/6, 6/4, 6/2).
“I don`t even know how we managed to turn that match around [in doubles],” Kudermetova said. “We slightly changed tactics and turned the game in our favor.
“During such matches, when you need to fight back, during games we just support and encourage each other, and in transitions, we discuss what to change, how we can turn the game around.
“But you just shouldn`t let it get to that point – we are to blame, of course, for getting ourselves into that situation.”
Asked about playing Alexandrova twice in a row on the same day, in both singles and doubles, and her visible frustration in the singles match:
“I couldn`t even show 20 percent of my game. For what reason, I can`t explain yet. Of course, you get irritated in such a situation, how else, because you want to show at least half of your level at such moments.
“We both didn`t play cleanly, we were both very nervous. But Katya turned out to be more stable, more resilient. And because of that, she won, while I was angry at myself. I couldn`t find a way out of the situation.”
On the perception that Alexandrova`s game is changing:
“I myself didn`t give Katya the chance to show anything of hers, it was all about me. I brought her everything on a silver platter. With my game like that, it didn`t matter who was on the other side, the result would have been the same. I still can`t find the reason why I couldn`t even show a minimal level.”
