What a pity! Alexandrova had hidden match points and gave away a nearly won Cleveland final
Alexander Nasonov Aug 26, 2023, 10:55 PM MSK Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The Russian led 6:3, 4:2, but in the most offensive mode she lost her advantage.
On Saturday, August 26, the final match of the WTA-250 tournament took place in Cleveland (USA). Initially, there were four Russians in the tournament standings, and three of them were seeded. However, only one representative from Russia came to the decisive meeting. The first to leave the fight was Anna Blinkova, seeded in the eighth number. In the first round she lost without a chance to the Chinese Zhu Lin, who also knew how to hang the “shuttle” on her rival (0: 6, 3: 6 not in favor of Blinkova). Veronika Kudermetova (3) and Mirra Andreeva did slightly better. Kudermetova scored a resounding victory over 2020 Roland Garros semifinalist Nadiya Podoroska (3:6, 6:2, 6:1), but afterward she couldn’t do anything with Sarah Sorribes-Tormo-4:6, 1:6. And 16-year-old Andreeva first pulled off a nervous match with Tamara Korpach (6:0, 3:6, 7:5), and then fell under the attack of 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stevens 3:6. , 3. :6.
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And only Ekaterina Alexandrova (4) held out until the end. For four games, she only gave her opponents one set: Patricia-Maria Tsig, Alexandra Sasnovich, Xinyu Wang and Zhu Lin were defeated. In the final, Alexandrova’s rival was the aforementioned Sorribes-Tormo, Kudermetova’s offender. In general, the level of her opponents was higher, which is not surprising, since the Spaniard entered the main draw of the tournament as a lucky loser. In addition to Veronica, Sarah beat the first racket in the world in doubles Kateryna Sinyakova (the Czech retired 6:2, 4:0 in favor of her opponent), Stevens (6:1, 6:3 – an unexpectedly sure victory ) and Tatiana Maria (6:4, 6:3).
The 26-year-old Sorribes-Tormo, who has never been higher than 32nd in the world rankings, reached the final of a WTA tournament for the second time in her career. The previous attempt ended successfully: in 2021, the Spanish woman won the “250 nick” in Guadalajara, beating Eugenie Bouchard in the decisive match. But for Alexandrova, the current final was already the seventh of her career. Of the previous six, the Russian has won four, including ‘s-Hertogenbosch-2023, when Kudermetova lost to her. Ekaterina had never faced Sarah in the main draw of the WTA tournaments before, but in the qualification in Linz in 2016, the representative of Spain turned out to be stronger: 6:4, 7:6 (8:6).
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At the start of the final, the tennis players had not felt well on the pitch for some time. The rivals exchanged breaks and committed two double faults (1:1). In the third game, Alexandrova took serve from her and then hit a break point, but missed (2-2). Despite this, the initiative passed to the Russian woman. She again took the game from her, after which she surprised her opponent with a break to nil – 4: 2! True, Ekaterina could immediately lose the advantage: in the seventh game, her serve was 0:30, and then, after a double fault, there was a break point, but Sorribes-Tormo did not take advantage of it. When the score was 5:3, Aleksandrova went to break the set, she went again at 0:30 and got the first set point – 6:3 in 48 minutes.
It seemed that the key moment of the final and, therefore, of the entire tournament came in the fifth game of the second set. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Yes, Alexandrova, thanks to her active play, got a break point and took advantage of it immediately, after which, although not without difficulty, after committing two double faults after 40:15, she fixed the advantage on her serve: 4: 2. But Sorribes-Tormo did not give up. After taking her game, the Spanish broke to zero, taking advantage of her rival’s mistakes in the draws, equalizing the score 4:4. In the ninth game, the Russian had a break point, that is, a hidden match point, but she missed this opportunity. And in the tenth game, Catherine again committed double faults, which Sarah took advantage of (6:4 in 50 minutes).
In the decisive game, Aleksandrova made a break already in the third game, after which she took the game 3:1. But even here the Russian could not maintain the lead. In the sixth game, Sorribes-Tormo again brought another’s serve to zero (Ekaterina made mistakes again and, to top it off, made a brace on break point) and tied the score 3-3. In the seventh game, Aleksandrova rallied and made a second break, but only to allow her opponent to do the same: 4:4. At that time, the Russian had already accumulated up to 12 double faults.
In the ninth game, Ekaterina reached a break point (that is, again a hidden match point), but even here Sarah was unfazed. In the tenth game, Alexandrova double-faulted again, giving her opponent a double match point on the reception and winning it back, but on the fourth attempt Sorribes-Tormo still achieved her goal: 3:6, 6:4 , 6. :4 in 2 hours 29 minutes.
So Sorribes-Tormo got the first title of the season and the second of his career. And very soon he will start the competition in the main draw of the US Open. Alexandrova’s first opponent will be 2021 US Open finalist Leyla Fernandez.
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