One Grand Slam champion down. Another awaits.
19th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova upset reigning Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova in the Round of 16 on Tuesday at the China Open, winning 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour. She next will face reigning French Open champion Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Andreeva, the tournament’s No. 4 seed was as dominant as Alexandrova in her outstanding victory over Daria Snigur, winning 6-2, 6-2 in about an hour.
Alexandrova has not dropped a set against Andreeva in two meetings, beating her most recently on grass at Bad Homburg over the summer.
Alexandrova is not focusing on past success. This will be their first encounter on a hard court.
“I’m trying not to think about [my record against her],” Alexandrova said. “Every match we play is different. You can win two matches, and the third match can be completely different from that.”
Alexandrova will try to continue playing the way she’s been playing throughout the tournament, only dropping one set in her run to the quarterfinals. Into her fourth quarterfinal of the season, the 31-year-old has found a solid patch of form. She has made the quarterfinals at two of the last three WTA 1000s.
“I don’t have any expectations,” she said. “I will go on court and try to do the same thing I did in all the matches before.”
Alexandrova’s serving stood out in the match against the fifth-seeded Noskova, winning 88 percent of her first serve points while serving up six aces.
“I think it was a really good match for me — serve, good shots,” Alexandrova said. “I’m overall happy with the performance and to be in the quarterfinal in Beijing.”
Alexandrova was unbroken in the match, saving all four break points she faced while capitalizing on 4 of 5 break points she earned on return.
It has not been the easiest year for Alexandrova, getting bounced out in her first match at 12 tournaments. This is only her third time this year winning three matches in a row.
"Sometimes it feels like everything is working and sometimes it feels like nothing is working," she said.
"I think here maybe this year helped a lot the switch of the balls. They're heavier than it used to be. I think it suits my kind of game more. I just kind of switched my focus from adjusting to the balls to more what should I do on the court."
Everything seems to be working now, and she's been enjoying her time at the China Open. That makes all the difference.
"I really like this part of the season, like the autumn feel, the outdoor courts," Alexandrova said. "It's super nice. I love the whole Asia Swing. I think every country, every city we play, it's amazing. You can enjoy both on court and off court.
"The tournament was always great. Every year I played, it was amazing. Every year they manage to do it even better. Like the food, the hotel, everything, the staff, everything is amazing. You're just enjoying your time off court. Every year it's better.”
Andreeva finished her match in just 64 minutes of complete two-set domination. It was such a quick outing that the prodigious champion hit the practice courts straight after the match.
"Just so you know, it was not my idea,” Andreeva said with a smile. "It was not up to me."
"Today we just did a lot of returns 'cause I'm going to play against the big servers, big hitters. We just did a lot of returns. I did a lot of just basic stuff to feel good after the match, clean my shots."
The two sets followed nearly identical scripts. The 19-year-old Roland Garros champion was able to mount a 3-2 lead before taking over and sweeping the remaining games. She won 76 percent of her first serves and 62 percent of her second serves.
Looking ahead, Andreeva is excited to work with her coach Conchita Martinez to figure out ways to counter Alexandrova’s attack ahead of their third head-to-head matchup.
“I haven’t beat her yet, so I will try my best with Conchita to see how I played against her,” Andreeva said. “You know, what to change, something new that I can try to bring into the match.
"It’s going to be a great, entertaining match. She’s a great player, so I’m pretty excited to try to finally get that first win against her."
Ninth time’s the charm for Karolina Muchova.
That’s how many match points it took for her to finally put away Naomi Osaka in Tuesday’s Round of 16 matchup at the China Open.
The seventh-seeded Muchova defeated No. 12 seed Osaka 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) in a nearly three-hour rollercoaster ride, in which the victorious Czech played from behind for the vast majority of the time. Osaka built early leads in both the first and the third sets, but Muchova kept clawing back until she was the one with match points.
“This is the third time we played this season," Muchova said. "Every time we play, it’s a really tough match. I’d say I got a bit lucky today. Could really go either way.”
Muchova missed her first five match points while attempting to break Osaka’s serve up 5-4 in the third set. Somehow, Osaka survived a 0-40 deficit to hold and the two held serve to force the deciding tiebreak. Muchova was once again first to the advantage. A 180 kph ace and a nervy Osaka miss gave Muchova a 6-4 lead, but once again, she struggled close it out.
On her sixth match point, Muchova missed a would-be winner by millimeters. On No. 7, she missed an easy put-away at the net. And on No. 8, she sent a relatively routine return long.
With each tiebreak point, the crowd grew louder. By Match Point No. 9, the entire Lotus Court crowd was on its feet.
Finally, Osaka let one get by her, off a cross-court backhand zinger from Muchova, ending the match.
Muchova will face fellow Czech Nikola Bartunkova in Thursday’s quarterfinal. Bartunkova defeated Sinja Kraus 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in her Round of 16 match on Tuesday.
The younger Czech is looking forward to her upcoming duel with a familiar foe.
“She’s also from my club, so that’s funny,” Bartunkova said. “It’s great. I think I have a similar style to her, so it will be a fun match. I will enjoy it for sure.”
By Pranav Sriraman, Ellis von Fintel, and Jackson West
Weibo@ChinaOpen
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Douyin@ChinaOpen
