SEOUL: Ekaterina Alexandrova overcame nerves to win the third title of her profession as she dismantled injury-hampered prime seed Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 within the closing of the Korea Open on Sunday.
The 2 battled to a prolonged tiebreaker after an evenly matched hour-long first set in entrance of greater than 10,000 spectators, a file for the Seoul occasion.
However every thing modified within the second set as Russia’s second-seeded Alexandrova dominated the previous French Open champion from Latvia, who required a medical timeout at 3-0 down for a foot drawback.
“I feel it was robust for me to start out as a result of I used to be actually nervous and I could not discover the rhythm within the first couple of video games,” mentioned Alexandrova, 27.
“However the longer we performed, the higher I felt on the court docket.
“I feel possibly someplace in the long run of the primary set I lastly discovered the rhythm and I simply continued to maintain it that manner within the second set.”
The Russian is having fun with the most effective season of her profession, having additionally gained the Libema Open within the Netherlands in June, and is about to rise to a career-high 21 on the planet.
“You all the time need to obtain extra,” Alexandrova added.
“I need to go larger and possibly finish the 12 months prime 20 within the best-case state of affairs.”
Ostapenko had superior to the Korea Open closing after former US Open winner Emma Raducanu retired within the third set of their semi-final with harm.
The 2 battled to a prolonged tiebreaker after an evenly matched hour-long first set in entrance of greater than 10,000 spectators, a file for the Seoul occasion.
However every thing modified within the second set as Russia’s second-seeded Alexandrova dominated the previous French Open champion from Latvia, who required a medical timeout at 3-0 down for a foot drawback.
“I feel it was robust for me to start out as a result of I used to be actually nervous and I could not discover the rhythm within the first couple of video games,” mentioned Alexandrova, 27.
“However the longer we performed, the higher I felt on the court docket.
“I feel possibly someplace in the long run of the primary set I lastly discovered the rhythm and I simply continued to maintain it that manner within the second set.”
The Russian is having fun with the most effective season of her profession, having additionally gained the Libema Open within the Netherlands in June, and is about to rise to a career-high 21 on the planet.
“You all the time need to obtain extra,” Alexandrova added.
“I need to go larger and possibly finish the 12 months prime 20 within the best-case state of affairs.”
Ostapenko had superior to the Korea Open closing after former US Open winner Emma Raducanu retired within the third set of their semi-final with harm.
