Ekaterina Alexandrova, seeded No. 9, powered her way into her third semifinal of 2025 by defeating No. 3 seed Zheng Qinwen with a score of 6-1, 6-4 on Friday at the Credit One Charleston Open.
Alexandrova`s previous Charleston semifinal appearance was in 2022, where she was defeated by Belinda Bencic. However, in that run as the No. 7 seed, she did not face any seeded players. This year, after a decisive victory against No. 6 seed Diana Shnaider in the Round of 16, she secured a win in 1 hour and 24 minutes against another higher-ranked opponent. This marks her third consecutive win against a Top 10 player this year.
In her post-match comments, Alexandrova acknowledged the intensity of each game, despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise. She highlighted Zheng`s strong serve and overall game, emphasizing her own focus on capitalizing on every opportunity.
“Even if in some moments, the score seemed easy, I think every game was pretty close and pretty intense,” Alexandrova said. “I knew she`s a great server and a great player, and I tried to use every single opportunity that I had. I`m glad with the match today, and I`m so happy to be back here in the semifinals.”
Here are some key statistics from Alexandrova`s victory, which is her third win in three career matches against Zheng:
3: Alexandrova successfully saved all three break points she faced against Zheng while converting three out of five break point opportunities for herself.
4: Prior to Charleston, Alexandrova had experienced a four-match losing streak following a semifinal loss to Amanda Anisimova at the Qatar Total Open. Before this streak, she had achieved eight consecutive victories, including winning the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz and securing upsets against Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula in Doha.
She is set to play against Pegula for the fourth time in their careers, having won their last two encounters. These wins include a three-set victory in the Qatar quarterfinals and another three-set win in the Miami quarterfinals last year. Pegula`s sole victory against Alexandrova was on clay in Rome four years ago.
“It`s going to be super difficult because she`s so consistent and stable on the baseline, so it`s difficult to do something about it,” Alexandrova commented about facing Pegula.
5: Alexandrova began the match against Zheng by winning the first five games, starting with a challenging service hold in the opening game. After being at 40-15, she had to save a break point to hold serve. In the third game, she was again pushed to deuce from a 40-15 lead.
8: Zheng received a medical timeout during the first set for treatment on her right arm. She managed to hit only eight winners in the match, with two of them being aces.
13: Before losing to Alexandrova, Zheng had accumulated a 13-match winning streak on clay, dating back to her Olympic gold medal win last summer and her subsequent WTA 250 title in Palermo.
40: Zheng`s first serve percentage in the match was just 40%, which allowed Alexandrova to win 46% of her return points.
