Ekaterina Alexandrova took her 4th career's WTA title after winning the final of WTA 250 Libema Open against her fellowcountry Veronika Kudermetova. The final match was an intense battle, which took almost three hours and got decided in third set's tiebreak, eventually won by Alexandrova 4-6 6-4 7-6(3). The Russian has defended the last year's title won in s'Hertogenbosch as well.
Both the finalists have approached the title's clash without losing any single set during the week in s'Hertogenbosch. Kudermetova's road to the final was looking like a cakewalk, as she has not faced any player ranked in the top 130 of WTA rankings, and won all the matches in really convincing way, never giving away more than 5 games to her opponent.
Alexandrova has also not got too much trouble before the final match. Kimberly Birrell was the highest ranked player faced by eventual champion up until the semis. The Australian managed to force the tiebreak in second set of the match won by Alexandrova 6-4 7-6(3). Aliaksandra Sasnovich was the only one top 100 player faced by Alexandrova before the final, but the Russian secured her final's spot after 80 minutes of play ended up with a score 6-1 7-6(1).
The final match was tormented by the rain, which forced the delay from the start and caused in the decisive phases of second set. Kudermetova has won the opening set and set up herself in a good position to win in straights, as she earned the first break of second set, moving up into 3-2 lead in 5th game. Alexandrova has needed to fought back and did it well, leveling the score a game later, and gaining the crucial break in 10th game, just after coming back from the pause cause by the rain.
The decider did not bring any breaks, but Alexandrova was the one who produced more danger on her opponent's serve. She got the first breakpoint opportunity in 2nd game and another one in 10th game, which was the first matchpoint at the same time. Kudermetova cleared this danger, but another fear for the world's number 14 came up in 12th game, when Alexandrova produced another two matchpoints. Kudermetova managed to survive until tiebreak, defending 3 matchpoints at this time, but it occured not to be enough, as Alexandrova was a better player in tiebreak and clinched the trophy after long and intense battle.
Veronika Kudermetova had a good chance to come back into top 10 of WTA rankings in case of winning the Libema Open. While coming up short in the final, the Russian has managed to move up just into 13th place instead, gaining one spot in the ranks. Ekaterina Alexandrova gained 4 places to move up into 22th spot in the rankings. Both the finalists are scheduled to play in the WTA 500 bett1open in Berlin next week.
