Ekaterina Alexandrova, seeded No. 9, powered her way into her third semifinal of 2025 by defeating No. 3 seed Zheng Qinwen 6-1, 6-4 on Friday at the Credit One Charleston Open.
Alexandrova previously reached the semifinal in Charleston in 2022, where she lost to Belinda Bencic. This year, she followed up a decisive victory over No. 6 seed Diana Shnaider with a 1 hour, 24-minute win over Zheng, marking her third consecutive win against a Top 10 player this year.
`Even if the score looked easy at times, every game was closely contested and intense,` Alexandrova said after the match. `I knew Zheng is a strong server and player, and I tried to capitalize on every opportunity I had. I`m happy with my performance today and excited to be back in the semifinals.`
Here are some key statistics from Alexandrova`s victory, her third in as many matches against Zheng:
3: Alexandrova successfully saved all three break points against Zheng and converted three out of five break point opportunities for herself.
4: Before Charleston, Alexandrova had lost four matches in a row since reaching the Qatar Total Open semifinal. Prior to that, she had an eight-match winning streak, including a title at the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz and wins against Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula in Doha.
She will now face Pegula for the fourth time in her career, having won their last two encounters. Alexandrova won in three sets in both the Qatar quarterfinals and the Miami quarterfinals last year. Pegula`s only win against Alexandrova was on clay in Rome four years ago.
`It will be very challenging because Pegula is very consistent and solid from the baseline, making it difficult to dictate play,` Alexandrova commented.
5: Alexandrova began the match against Zheng by winning the first five games. This run started with a challenging service hold in the opening game, where she saved a break point after being up 40-15. She also faced deuce in the third game after leading 40-15.
8: Zheng took a medical timeout in the first set to receive treatment on her right arm. She hit only eight winners in the match, including two aces.
13: Before losing to Alexandrova, Zheng had won 13 consecutive matches on clay, including winning a second WTA 250 title in Palermo before her Olympic gold medal win last summer.
40: Zheng landed only 40% of her first serves in the match, allowing Alexandrova to win 46% of her return points.
Rupert Caldwell