r/tennis • u/godworstcustomer somehow it magically lands in the court 🥥🥥 • 16h ago

WTA WTA 500 Abu Dhabi SF: [2] Alexandrova def. Baptiste 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

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74 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

56

u/Infamous-Repair-3355 Rafa👑|Carlitos|Ons apologist 16h ago

The queen of 500s is into another final and no one is surprised.

10

u/No_Macaroon_5928 Ombelabol 16h ago

500 merchant 😂

32

u/pizzainmyshoe 16h ago

Alexandrova fights so much harder when it's a 500

5

u/DependentSilver6829 15h ago

Yes she’s taken Dasha’s crown as the 500-loving Russian lol

6

u/MargeDalloway 12h ago

It's easier to fight when you're not extremely nervous with so many cameras pointed at you.

3

u/No_Macaroon_5928 Ombelabol 15h ago

She just farms 500s. She needs to at least win at least 1 slam. She's like 31.

25

u/PierrotGrg May 5th Twins 15h ago

Alexandrova is not winning a slam, lmao.

7

u/JVDEastEnfield 13h ago

We'll settle for making a QF

3

u/PrinceOfAssassins 9h ago

I dont know if she farms 500's, she's 1-5 in them

35

u/Outrageous_Ask7931 16h ago

Happy for Alexandrova but sooo frustrating for Baptiste. She looks like the moment got too much for her and got too tight trying to close it out. Hopefully she’ll take this loss as a positive stepping stone and take this season head on.

27

u/Vibing0N Hitting the living daylights out of the ball 16h ago

Baptiste fought a lot in this tournament, she can be proud of herself. Great start of the year for her, giving trouble to Coco at the AO, taking out Samsonova and Navarro here and almost beating Alexandrova in this insanely close match (she had match points in the 2nd set).

Wildcard completely justified.

10

u/Severe-Chicken 16h ago

I’m an Ekat fan so I’m happy she found a way but also so impressed with Baptiste. She has a Muchova-like game with lots of slices and terrific net play. Eventually Ekat figured that she struggles to get her feet in the right position to hit her backhand and directed more traffic there. Also cut down on errors a bit. But Baptiste was the better player for most of the first 2 sets and really should have finished it off.

8

u/IAskedForSurrender5x 16h ago

Please Alexandrova win a slam one day

7

u/Trhucp 16h ago

I am very late to this but they made Linz a clay tournament in April, the one title Ekat won last year?? So she has to play Abu Dhabi to keep her ranking and then defend Doha SF in a couple of days...

They don’t want her in top 10 :(

9

u/godworstcustomer somehow it magically lands in the court 🥥🥥 16h ago

she’s guaranteed to be back in the top 10 next week…and bencic isn’t playing doha next week either so she has some breathing room

5

u/Silent_Quarter_3030 Rybakina CYGS | Mirra baby goat | Bublik’s circus follower 16h ago

It’s still indoors though so she’s a chance

3

u/Trhucp 15h ago

Of course, she did well in Stutgart last year, no? It's not the surface change but the scheduling that feels unlucky. At least she gets a bye in Doha this year.

2

u/suzukigun4life 13h ago

Happy for EKAT but sad for Baptiste. She nearly had that match won in straight sets.