By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday April 24, 2022
Anastasia Potapova notched a decisive victory over compatriot Veronika Kudermetova to claim the title at Istanbul.
Photo Source: TC
Anastasia Potapova, a former junior Wimbledon champion, played two WTA finals in 2018, the first as a 17-year-old, losing both. Four years later, the Russian talent made her third final count, defeating Veronika Kudermetova, 6-3, 6-1, to lock down her maiden WTA title at Istanbul.
The former World No.64 entered the week ranked at 122 and carrying a seven-match losing streak against players inside the Top-50, but Potapova came through qualifying and notched important wins, including wins over World No.47 Sara Sorribes Tormo and World No.51 Yulia Putintseva to reach the final.
In Sunday’s final, on a clear, sunny day in Istanbul, Potapova made no mistake with 29th-ranked Kudermetova to become the WTA’s first maiden title winner in 2022, and the second qualifier to triumph (also Tatjana Maria, Bogota).
Potapova, who improves to 8-7 on the season and will climb back inside the Top-100 in Monday's WTA rankings (projected 77), won 11 of the final 12 games against Kudermetova. She broke serve six times from 12 opportunities and cracked 15 winners against just 10 unforced errors (compared to 12 winners and 23 unforced for Kudermetova).
Kudermetova drops to 0-3 in finals in 2022, and 16-8 overall.