Ekaterina Alexandrova takes the ball early and hits it flat, a first-strike game built to end points before they become rallies. Born in Chelyabinsk, she moved to Prague in 2006 when her family relocated for better courts, and her father Evgeny has coached her ever since. The serve sets the tone; she once fired 22 aces in a single match. Her first title came at Shenzhen in 2020, past Elena Rybakina, and grass rewards her timing: she won 's-Hertogenbosch back to back in 2022 and 2023.
The peak arrived late. After nearly a decade as a dangerous floater no seed wanted to draw, she produced the season of her career in 2025, winning Linz and reaching finals in Monterrey and Seoul, and that October, aged 30, she rose to a career-high No. 10. Her 6 career titles share the same clean-hitting signature. She opened 2026 with a final in Abu Dhabi and beat Mirra Andreeva on Bad Homburg's grass, the flat ball still doing its work.
Zero. That is how many service games Elena Rybakina dropped in the Ningbo final. She held all 8, saved all 4 break points she faced, and beat Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-2 on Sunday to win the title for a second year running, while Fernandez converted none of her 4 break points.
Match taleFive. That is where Iga Swiatek stands on the WTA rankings after Toronto, up three from 8, and her climb moved Mirra Andreeva, Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova down one each, to 6, 7 and 8.
Ranking tale