Ekaterina Alexandrova's game in the last month has become a pleasant revelation for domestic fans.
She taught tennis fans a long time ago that she demonstrates extremely unstable results.
And last year and the beginning of the current one turned out to be a failure for her.
In seven of the last eight tournaments, she has failed to make it past the second round.
The exception was Charleston, where she sensationally advanced to the semi-finals, beating world No. 7 Karolina Pliskova along the way.
Moreover, she achieved success on the ground, where she had not previously shone.
After that, the athlete seemed to have been changed.
If in Stuttgart she completed her performance in her usual second round, then at the Masters in Madrid she again reached the semi-finals.
But the Russian woman did not even manage to get into the main draw of the competition and had to make her way there through the qualification, where she turned out to be stronger
Tamara Korpach and Clara Burel.
Further, Alexandrov was no longer to be stopped.
Feeling self-confidence, she alternately knocked out Elena Ostapenko, ranked 12th in the WTA rating (6:2, 4:6, 6:4), Nuria Parrizas-Diaz (6:4, 7:5) and Marie Bouzkova (6:7, 6:0, 7:5).
Her opponent in the quarterfinals was also not the easiest - Amanda Anisimova.
The US tennis player with Russian roots is not only higher than Ekaterina in the world rankings, but also outperformed her in the only face-to-face meeting in 2020 in Doha.
Two years later, Alexandrova took a convincing revenge.
The American, on the other hand, was not ready for the confrontation, both physically and psychologically.
There was a certain nervousness and uncertainty in her actions.
As soon as the game was successfully played, the rudest blots followed, which did not allow building on success.
For example, it was Anisimova who first made a break when the score was 2:1 in her favor.
But instead of fixing it on her own serve, she gave it to her opponent.
Then they exchanged breaks again.
Alexandrova, on the contrary, at decisive moments gathered and acted almost perfectly, leaving Amanda not the slightest chance.
So, in the eighth and ninth games, she managed to win ten points in a row and not only took her own serve to zero, but also put the squeeze on the American for someone else.
After that, winning the starting set turned out to be a matter of technique - 6:4.
It is significant that the representative of the United States in the first game made three double faults, while her opponent did not make a single one.
In the second set, the scenario was completely repeated.
Amanda made a return break to zero and took the lead.
But it was not possible to develop success.
The fifth game came out absolutely disastrous for her, when the American made three doubles and gave up her pitch out of the blue.
Then she had to call a doctor to the court at all.
The athlete complained of pain in the ankle area, but still managed to continue the game.
However, it is difficult to say how much the injury affected her actions in the future.
However, Alexandrova prevailed in the next game, winning back five break points.
By the way, in this component, according to the results of the match, the advantage turned out to be on her side - 8:7.
Well, after such a failure, Anisimova failed to recover and actually gave up - 3:6.
Thus, the Russian woman for the second time in a month made it to the semi-finals of the tournament on clay.
It was also the first time in her career that she climbed this far at the Masters.
Moreover, Ekaterina is the first girl since 2016, who got into the top four in Madrid, starting from the qualification.
And this result is not the limit for her.
In the semi-finals, Alexandrova will meet with Ons Jaber, who easily defeated former world No. 1 Simona Halep - 6:3, 6:2.
On the one hand, the tennis player from Tunisia has recently gained a great move and climbed to the tenth position in the WTA rankings.
On the other hand, Alexandrova is a really uncomfortable opponent for her.
Before that, their paths had crossed seven times, and in six cases it was the domestic athlete who turned out to be stronger.
According to experts, she has a great opportunity to finally win the second tournament in her career.
So, the president of the RTF Shamil Tarpishchev emphasized that Alexandrova is in amazing shape and demonstrates very high-speed tennis, which her competitors are not able to cope with.
“She doesn’t let them breathe, keeps a good pace.
And psychologically, Ekaterina played quite confidently today, so she deservedly won.
She is stable and hard to beat.
She has flat punches that have great speed.
And since this happens at a sufficiently high altitude above sea level, the ball flies faster, and this becomes an advantage, ”Championship” quotes Tarpischev.
In turn, the famous Soviet tennis player and commentator Anna Dmitrieva believes that the athlete has added another important component - self-confidence.
Previously, she seemed to be shy of success, but now she has become noticeably liberated.
“She had a period of decline last year, it seemed that she would freeze in the middle of the first hundred.
And now Ekaterina has found resources in herself that allow her to play at a different level.
She really needs a victory over Anisimova now.
Amanda is a young and promising tennis player.
To beat her, you need to have all the technical skills that Alexandrova lacked, ”Sport-Express quotes Dmitrieva.