Seoul Open: Second title of the year for Alexandrova

Second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets to win the e Seoul Open trophy at the Seoul Olympic Park on Sunday.

Ostapenko took the early lead in the first set, going up 2-0 before Alexandrova leveled the set at 3-3. The Latvian, a former Roland-Garros champion, took the lead once again to go up 5-3 but the Russian fought back to tie the set at 5-5.

Alexandrova went on to win the first set in a tiebreaker and then ran away with the second set to love to complete the 7-6 (4), 6-0 win in one hour and 26 minutes.

This is Alexandrova’s second singles title of the 2022 season after winning the Liebma Open in the Netherlands on grass in June. This is also her third career singles title on the WTA Tour.

Alexandrova, ranked No 24 and projected to move to a career-high ranking of No 21 had earlier scored wins over American Asia Muhammad (6-1, 3-6, 6-1), wildcard Na-Lae Han (6-1, 6-3), Swiss qualifier Lulu Sun (7-5, 7-6 (6)) and German Tatjana Maria, the No 7 seed (6-2, 6-4) to reach the final.

Ostapenko, ranked No 19 and a winner in Dubai earlier this year, had defeated wildcard Boyoung Jeong (6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2)), Russian Anastasia Gasanova (6-3, 5-7, 7-5), Andorran lucky loser Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (6-2, 6-1) and No 6 seed Emma Raducanu (4-6, 6-3, 3-0 ret.) en route to the final.

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