Ekaterina Alexandrova

Personal life

Alexandrova moved to Prague with her family in 2006 after a youth tournament, drawn by the city's better access to tennis courts. She speaks Russian and Czech fluently, with some English. Her father Evgeny coaches her, and Steffi Graf was her childhood idol. Though tempted by the easier travel a Czech passport would offer, she has not yet applied for citizenship.

Career

Alexandrova began the year ranked No. 291 and won her fifth ITF Circuit title in February at a 10k event in Trnava, defeating Karolína Muchová in the final. In April she made her WTA Tour singles debut at the Katowice Open, qualifying for the main draw as an unseeded player; she beat world No. 115 Klára Koukalová before losing to eventual finalist Camila Giorgi in three sets. At Wimbledon, her first grass-court tournament and major debut, she entered the qualifying draw after a last-minute withdrawal.

She qualified by defeating Ons Jabeur, then saved a match point against Stephanie Vogt and won 14–12 and 13–11 in three-set matches, and beat Harriet Dart, playing 108 games across three matches. In the first round she upset 23rd seed and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets, then lost to Anna-Lena Friedsam in the second round. Returning to clay, she reached the final of the ITS Cup, a 50k event, losing to compatriot and top seed Elizaveta Kulichkova in three sets.

At the US Open qualifying, she defeated Robin Anderson and lost to Viktoriya Tomova, both in three sets. At the Tournoi de Québec she beat world No. 59 Julia Görges before losing to qualifier Tereza Martincová. Entering the WTA 125 Open de Limoges as world No. 133, she won the biggest title of her career, defeating fourth seed Pauline Parmentier, second seed Alizé Cornet, and top seed world No. 24 Caroline Garcia. In the 2017 season she received direct entry into the Australian Open main draw for the first time but lost to compatriot and 30th seed Ekaterina Makarova in the first round.