MY ACCOUNT
Ekaterina Alexandrova is aiming high after overcoming some early nerves to beat top seed Jelena Ostapenko in the Korea Open final for her third WTA Tour title.
The 27-year-old prevailed 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 in Seoul to add to previous titles won in Shenzhen and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the latter coming just three months ago.
Alexandrova is at a career-high 24th in the WTA rankings and is hoping to climb further before the year is out.
“You always want to achieve more. I want to go higher and maybe end the year in the top 20 in the best-case scenario,” she said in her on-court interview.
Ostapenko advanced to Sunday’s final after Emma Raducanu retired injured in the previous round and was aiming to become the first two-time champion in the event.
Second seed Alexandrova dug deep in the first set by recovering from a break down three times against the 2017 winner before saving a set point at 6-5 down.
The Russian looked far stronger in the second set as she posted her sixth bagel of 2022 to seal victory in a time of 85 minutes.
“I think it was tough for me to start because I was really nervous and I couldn’t find my rhythm in the first couple of games,” Alexandrova said.
“But the longer we played, the better I felt on the court. I think maybe somewhere in the end of the first set I finally found the rhythm and I just continued to keep it that way.”
