Hard-hitting Ekaterina Alexandrova is floating dangerously under the radar as we head into this year’s Wimbledon Championships. The Russian looked lethal in her opener, dismantling experienced grass-court operator Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-2.
2025 WTA Tour
WTA 500
Bad Homburg Open
TC Bad Homburg, Bad Homburg, Germany (Outdoor Grass-court)
Selected Round of 16 Matches- 25th June
Ekaterina Alexandrova (8) 0.31 vs Maria Sakkari 2.4
She served brilliantly throughout the match, firing eight aces and winning 73% of her first-serve points. The result improved her impressive 2025 record to 24-12. She has reached the semifinal or better on five occasions this season, winning her 5th career title- and maiden WTA 500 title- on the indoor surfaces in Linz. She was involved in an epic encounter at last week’s Libema Open, missing out on eleven match points in her semifinal defeat to Elise Mertens. Still, her performance against Bencic means that she is 4-1 on grass this year. The big-serving Russian has always thrived on these surfaces, using her flat groundstrokes and aggressive gameplan to keep points concise. A two-time Libema Open champ, Alexandrova also reached the 4th round at Wimbledon in her last appearance in 2023.
Former World No.3 Maria Sakkari has been in desperate need of a pick-me-up. The hard-hitting Greek just hasn’t looked the same since returning from shoulder surgery at the end of last season. Lest we forget, she reached the Indian Wells final just last year (she has undoubted quality). She just hasn’t been able to string any consistent results together this season, reaching just one quarterfinal the entire campaign (in Linz). The former two-time Grand Slam semifinalist has been surprisingly poor on grass throughout her career (she is yet to reach a grass-court final and hasn’t gone beyond the 3rd round at Wimbledon). She started this year’s grass-court campaign poorly, thrashed by Mertens at the Libema Open before going out in qualifying in Berlin. She may feel sightly invigorated following the nature of her first-round win over Yulia Putintseva. Sakkari managed to survive a nervy test against the wily Kazakh, eventually prevailing 7-5, 7-6. The notoriously prickly Kazakh gave Sakkari a dismissive hand-flick at the post-match press conference, causing the Greek to explode in unsavoury on-court scenes. Who knows, this might be exactly what Sakkari needed to reignite her comatose campaign.
The Verdict: Alexandrova to win in straight sets at 0.78- Sakkari has utterly dominated this rivalry, leading the Russian 6-1 in the head-to-head tussles. However, this will be their first meeting in well over two years. Sakkari will be looking to use that Putintseva clash as fuel going forward (she always knows exactly what it takes to bring down the Russian). This will be a bruising encounter, but Alexandrova’s recent form is too good to ignore. Alexandrova is simplicity personified, using her big serve and flat groundstrokes to pummel her opposition. I think her direct, in-your-face style will force Sakkari into a host of errors.
