EKATERINA Alexandrova has won her maiden WTA Tour title, claiming her first victory outside of her three Limoges’ 125K event triumphs. In her best tournament to-date, Alexandrova took out the Shenzhen Open, making it 84 days undefeated in singles.

In the final, the fifth seed Russian defeated Kazahkstan seventh seed Elena Rybakina, of whom had only won the one title herself – in 2019 at Bucharest. Alexandrova has the equal most 125K titles of any player since they began in 2012, but now she can add a WTA International title to her growing resume. In the Shenzhen Open final, Alexandrova took 73 minutes to win 6-2 6-4 and move up to a live rankings spot of 26th.

Alexandrova dominated the opening set, serving her way to a 6-2 early advantage, winning 80 per cent of her first serve points and two thirds of her second serve, while completely attacking her opponents’ service. She broke three times from nine opportunities, and restricted Rybakina to just a 40.7 per cent success rate with her first serve. The second set was a lot closer with both players trading blows early with a couple of breaks in the opening few games, but it was the Russian who steadied when it counted, putting up 79.3 per cent of her first serves in, and winning 80 per cent of her opponents’ second serve. It was ultimately the difference in the match, with Alexandrova breaking three times in the set to her opponents’ twice. While the Kazakhstan young gun might have lost, Rybakina moved up to 27th on the live rankings, showing just how tight the WTA Tour is with both players potentially in line to be seeded at the Australian Open.