Ekaterina Alexandrova, Able To Beat The Best, Continues To Pass The Test
FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com Shutterstock-Maksim-Konstantinov-photo-credit-Editorial-use
January 30, 2024,
It took three grueling sets, one of them being a tie-breaker.
Some could describe it as brutal.
Witnessed on the world’s largest stage.
But she did it.
Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated the 2021 US Open Finalist Leylah Fernandez in three sets.
Now, that’s saying something. In any language. Especially since Ekaterina speaks three of them.
And that was just the first round.
Isn’t there some expression that says, to be the best, you have to beat the best?
Posted by usopen.org on August 29, 2023, “Of the two players stepping into the Grandstand for their Round 1 match, Leylah Fernandez was the one with celeb status. In a tight contest featuring some high drama (not to mention humidity), Alexandrova was able to seize the day—and the match—7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4.”
Celebrity status for Leylah?
Well deserved.
Having said that, apparently Ekaterina was not blinded by the starlight.
Ekaterina is trying hard to make a global name for herself. One tough first round victory after another.
Have you heard of her? How much do you know about her?
She has been making headlines.
Big wins. When it matters.
Again, on the world’s largest stage.
On July 8, 2023 wtatennis.com reported, “On Friday, Ekaterina Alexandrova battled for 2 hours and 49 minutes before she was able to put away Madison Brengle 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-6[7] — the first triple-tiebreak women’s match at Wimbledon in the Open Era and only the fourth in Grand Slam history.”
Making history. Breaking records. Amazing.
Time for a closer look at our burgeoning celeb.
Since 2006, Ekaterina has been living and training in Prague, Czech Republic, with her parents and two siblings, a brother and a sister. They moved after traveling to the city for a youth tournament, attracted by the local availability of tennis courts compared to Russia.
Ekaterina speaks Russian and Czech fluently, and also English, to a lesser extent. Her father Evgeny is her coach and Steffi Graf was her childhood tennis idol. Among the contemporary players, she mostly admires Serena Williams and Roger Federer.
Ekaterina has won four WTA singles titles, three WTA 125 titles and seven singles titles on the ITF Circuit.
In February of 2023, she reached her best singles ranking of number 16 in the world.
On September 26, 2022, she also peaked at No. 58 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Time for a little bit of history.
In 2016, despite starting the year as the world No. 291, Ekaterina clinched her fifth ITF title at the $10,000 event in Trnava, Slovakia.
During 2017, Ekaterina continued to be a constant presence on the WTA Tour but not achieving any major success.
Things began to change in 2018.
Ekaterina enjoyed a breakthrough season on the WTA Tour in the year.
She ended the season by tradition at the Open de Limoges, winning the title for the second time in her career after beating Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets. This victory solidified her place in the top 100, finding herself at the 73rd spot of the rankings after the tournament.
Very good 2018 ending.
In 2019, our luminary continued to earn more success on the WTA Tour.
For the third time in her career, Ekaterina closed out her season with a triumph at the Open de Limoges, this time lifting the trophy as the top seed.
Let’s move up to 2023.
Seeded 19th at the Australian Open, Alexandrova defeated Ysaline Bonaventure and Taylor Townsend, before falling to Magda Linette in the third round.
In Miami, she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 for a second time, defeating ninth seed Belinda Bencic and Bianca Andreescu.
Those are some big time victories.
She won her second grass court title at the Rosmalen championships where she was the defending champion with a win over compatriot Veronika Kudermetova.
She continued her good form on grass reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time at a Major.
Amazing.
Time to travel to the village that raised her.
Chelyabinsk is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population of over 1.1 million people, and the second-largest city in the Ural Federal District, after Yekaterinburg.
Chelyabinsk runs along the Miass River, and is just east of the Ural Mountains.
Those mountains are significant. The next piece of information will be hard to believe and even more so, that people lived through this startling and frightening once and a lifetime experience.
Shortly after dawn on February 15, 2013, a superbolide meteor descended at over 34,000 miles per hour.
Now, that is very fast.
It flew over the Ural Mountains, exploding at an altitude of 16–19 miles.
That is way too close for comfort.
The meteor created a momentary flash as bright as the sun and generated a shock wave that injured over a thousand people. Very sad. Still, when something that century unusual happens, you still need to document it.
The world travelers at lonelyplanet.com conclude, “The modern Chelyabinsk State Museum of Local History uses natural light well to create an attractive exhibition space, a space that is home to over 300,000 artifacts. The highlight is the fragment of meteorite, discovered in the region after the 2013 explosion that took place not far from the city.”
Will Ekaterina have a meteoric rise in 2024?
Her sponsors sure hope so.
Ekaterina has been endorsed by Fila for apparel and shoes since 2020.
She was also sponsored by Lotto earlier in her career. She is also endorsed by Wilson for rackets, specifically using Wilson blade range.
Very effectively, we might add.
We watched her match at this year’s 2024 Australian Open with a very tough German veteran in Laura Siegemund, and though she lost in the first round to the German star, it was a tough three set battle.
Laura is an amazing talent who gave Coco Gauff all that she could handle at the 2023 US Open. We wrote about that.
2023 US Open Rd 1, Germany’s Laura Siegemund, A Performance To Remember
So, now you know a little bit more about Ekaterina. Is her future very bright?
We think so.
Anyone who can defeat a former US Open Finalist, on the world’s largest stage, has a bright future that can ascend over mountains.
All of us fans should keep watching.
Sometimes in awe.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO Shutterstock-Maksim-Konstantinov-photo-credit-Editorial-use fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leylah_Fernandez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
You must be logged in to post a comment.