Take to the court: what to expect from Alexandrova and Samsonova in Abu Dhabi

Ekaterina Alexandrova and Lyudmila Samsonova got off to a solid start at the Abu Dhabi tournament. The second racket of Russia beat Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in just 71 minutes. In the first set, Ekaterina led 4-0, but was close to losing two breaks. In the quarterfinals of the tournament, 31-year-old Alexandrova will face the winner of the Alexandra Sosnovich — Alexandra Eala match. Samsonova beat Sofia Kenin and Janice Tien, rising several positions in the ranking. Read more about the path of our stars to the title in the Izvestia article.

The turning point

Belinda Bencic won the Abu Dhabi tournament last year, and she started the new season cheerfully. The victory over Katie Bolter in the first round of the Australian Open was the 12th in a row for the Swiss (repeating a personal record series). However, she failed to build on her success — in the next match, Bencic lost to 19-year-old Nikola Bartyunkova and could not defend 500 points. The Olympic champion lost two positions and dropped out of the top 10. Now she has to defend the title in the UAE, where she starts with a match with Sonai Kartal.

Ekaterina Alexandrova received the second seeding number after Bencic. The Russian is not under any additional pressure at this tournament, as she withdrew last year after winning in Linz. Nevertheless, Ekaterina needs to gain playing skills. At three tournaments in Australia, Igor Andreev's ward won only one match in total (against Kenin on January 6). Not enough for a top-10 tennis player.

In the opening match in Abu Dhabi, Alexandrova had to play with Yastremskaya. Ekaterina beat Dayana in the Linz final a year ago, and after that she began her real ascent (debut in the top 10, trip to the Final tournament). The Ukrainian has not been stable in recent years (the highest position is 21st place in January 2020), but she is always able to produce an excellent tournament. For example, in Brisbane, Dayana stopped Leila Fernandez and reached the 1/8 finals. In Melbourne, she failed to pass the first round, losing to Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

On a good day, Yastremskaya can beat any opponent (in 2024, the Odessa native reached the semifinals of the Australian major). If something goes wrong, it's hard for her to rebuild. The match with Alexandrova was a clear illustration of this. Ekaterina led 4-0 and was close to taking her opponent's serve for the third time in a row. After a great slice, she earned a break point, but Yastremskaya still won her game on a prolonged "even." It would seem that this was a prestige game. However, Alexandrova made a double mistake with a score of 30:40, and then lost without a chance at the reception.

With the score at 3:4, Yastremskaya was very close to the second break. The Ukrainian led 40:0, but Alexandrova won back three break points. After that, the game became a one-sided beating. The Russian woman had all the shots flying at the target, and Dayana sometimes did not reach her balls. As a result, the "steering wheel" is in the second game. An important victory for Catherine, which should give her strength and confidence.

"The opening matches always turn out to be nervous," Alexandrova said in an interview on the court. — Besides, there is a special feature: the coverage on these courts is faster during the day than in the evening. If we talk about the match itself, there were moments where I made a lot of unforced errors. It's good that we managed to improve in the second set. I am glad that I was able not to create problems for myself and finish the game in two sets. Now, step by step, I will try to move on.

Departure of the first: Medvedev and Andreeva failed to make it to the 1/4 Australian Open

Daniil lost to Lerner Tien, Mirra lost to Elina Svitolina.

Against the sensation

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (lost to McCartney Kessler), Oksana Selekhmetyeva (lost to Elena Ostapenko, who made 70 unforced errors in this match) and Lyudmila Samsonova also started in the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 main draw. The third racket of the country won the opening match against Sofia Kenin, and in the fight to reach the quarterfinals, she allowed Indonesia's Janice Tien to take only four games.

Samsonova will play in the quarterfinals for the second time this season — she stopped at this stage earlier in Brisbane (she lost to Jessica Pegula). In general, the Russian is currently going through a series of defeats in the 1/4 finals — starting with Wimbledon, she lost three matches in a row. It would be good to break this series with Hayley Baptist, who made perhaps the main sensation of this tournament by knocking out her compatriot Emma Navarro (she was the fourth seed).

It is important for Lyudmila to perform well in the UAE after a painful defeat in Melbourne. In the first round, she led 6-0, 5-2 against Laura Siegemund, but managed to concede to the 37-year-old German.