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Caroline Wozniacki faced a completely different opponent who brought the rage to win at the BNP Paribas Open Saturday. Ekaterina Alexandrova became responsible for going the distance against the Dane to win 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 on Stadium Two at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. It was her first win against the former world number one scoring 44 winners in her biggest win of the season to date.
The two met twice in recent years with the Dane holding the series with straight sets victories each time. She holds a hard court win over the Russian giving her a heavy advantage once more.
Despite having been out of competition since the third round at Melbourne, the current world number 13 looked to get back on track and give her opening round match opponent one to remember. Alexandrova went three sets in her first rounder back on Thursday which was enough to warm up and try to stay close to Wozniacki for as long as she could.
She started the match with a solid break giving Wozniacki just one point on serve. The 28-year-old served one back with the same result before consolidating a hold in the third. Alexandrova held in the fourth to stay on point which led them to continue holding through the next three. Wozniacki set the bar for the young Russian who was taking the chat she had with coach Petr Kralert to keep her in a tight race.
They continued to be deadlocked through eight with no sight of the 24-year-old giving in. After Wozniacki took the 5-4 lead, Alexandrova jumped to 30-0 and held the Dane back just enough to secure the game point. With things going deep for the two, it would be a serious move from either one to find a way to dictate. Alexandrova showed potential taking a breakpoint in hand but needing to go to deuce.
She got her shot for an AD point after killing Wozniacki’s to take the key break. With the ball in hand to serve for the set, the Russian fell behind but rallied to deuce once again. She put very little effort to get the AD set point and win her first against the 28-year-old in 53 minutes. Alexandrova had 15 winners but committed way too many unforced errors to be in a better position.
It proved to be true when the second set got underway as Wozniacki found her footing and dug in. The Dane took three games in a row that rattled the Russian with a lot of movement needed to answer her.
During the changeover, she took another chat with her coach who tried to give her ideas on how to counter Wozniacki and regroup her offence. It didn’t come in the fourth as the 28-year-old handled Alexandrova to earn the double break and continue her march of dictation.
She drew errors from the Russian in the fifth to inch closer to a much-needed bagel to make her statement known. She gained two set points but couldn’t put it away as Alexandrova saved the breaks. She took the first AD point chance and never let go avoiding the shutout. Wozniacki was still intent on keeping control but a double fault arrived in the seventh and down 0-30. Another double fault got her behind with the game going to Alexandrova.
Wozniacki called down her father/coach and tell her how she needed to fix the issue in order to reel in the set. It took a lot of effort but after a break, Wozniacki got the win on an error from the Russian to enable the third set completing 39 minutes.
It was clear that the late surge from Alexandrova proved that she wasn’t out of it despite losing the set. The third was her time to pull out all the stops and give the Dane everything left in her.
She followed Wozniacki on serve through two before converting with three break point chances for the lead. She consolidated another break for a 3-1 stand before the former world number one struck back. It didn’t take much away from the 24-year-old as she held in the six to widen the gap at any chance.
The Dane made sure to hold to close in but the accuracy of her opponent was strong enough to keep control. She gained a huge 5-3 hold that spelt trouble for Wozniacki who was serving to stay alive against a true adversary who was using all the experience learned. With that being seen time and again, the 28-year old gained a 40-0 run in the ninth with all hope of continuing her night. Alexandrova saved two but hit one into the net to give Wozniacki a sigh of relief.
It was only brief as she once again faced Alexandrova’s service which produced another tough fight but key mistakes arrived to give the Dane another chance at containing the match. She served for the lead in the 11th but blew it to hand Alexandrova a break to love. She took one final call for Kralert to keep her composed and finish the match on her terms.
With another serve for the match, Alexandrova slightly fell behind but rallied to take the lead at 40-30 and eliminate Wozniacki with an error drawn to complete the upset after 2 hours and 25 minutes.
“It was the toughest match for me and I just played more consistent on the baseline and am so tired right now,” she said after the match. “It’s hard to explain and describe and am just happy that that match s finished.” She will go for broke as she faces Belinda Bencic who continues to surge with success on Monday in the third round.
