Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova become the first WTA Tour champion of the new decade as she defeated Kazakh rising star Elena Rybakina 6-2, 6-4 in 73 minutes to win the Shenzhen Open and claim her maiden title on the Centre Court of the Shenzhen Longgang Sports Centre.
The No. 5 seed, who won a 125K event at Limoges last month, started the match extremely strongly, stringing up to 11 points in a row as she romped to a 4-0 lead with two early breaks in a dominant first set display.
After losing her serve in the first game of the second set, world No. 36 Rybakina finally found her footing and moved into the ascendancy with two breaks of her own to go 4-2 up. However, it was evident that the Russian world No.34 had the read on Rybakina’s serve, delivering powerful returns that frustrated the 20-year-old Kazakh and prevented her from finding her rhythm.
Alexandrova took the next three games on the trot to go 5-4 up and closed out the match with a powerful serve that Rybakina shanked wide; the Russian fell to the floor with the delight of winning her first championship match.
The 25-year-old becomes the second player to win their first WTA Tour title in Shenzhen, following in the heels of Katerina Siniakova who picked up her maiden trophy in 2017 with a finals victory against Alison Riske.
“I didn’t expect the first set to be so easy so I knew the second set would be so much tougher. In the second set I think she played well but after I got the break to make it 4-4, she got a bit nervous. The whole week has been good for me I think, right from the start. It wasn’t easy but thankfully, I could make it to the end. It feels amazing to win my first title. I don’t know what to say. The first title is always special. It was my second final – the first wasn’t so good for me – and I was trying to do my best to get this one,” said the Russian.
With her Shenzhen Open title run, Alexandrova is on a 10-match winning streak and will break the Top 30 for the first time in her career. She can also look forward to her first Grand Slam as a seed at the upcoming Australian Open.
Rybakina can also anticipate a rankings jump that will improve her career best ranking and took heart from her strong start to the season.
“It was a great week for me. Of course, I am disappointed with the final a little bit, but still I think it’s a good start to the season. Hopefully I can use this result to help me do better and better. I really like Shenzhen – I am playing here the first time and hopefully I will come back next year,” said Rybakina.
