WTA500 Linz: Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Dayana Yastremska final analysis

The dynamics between Alexandrova's serving and Yastremka's returning set the tone for a final that featured two big runs and a thrilling finale

Ekaterina Alexandrova (WTA #31) entered last sunday’s Upper Austria Ladies Linz final with triple the reasons to ascertain the validity of the expression “Third time’s the charm”.

The 4-seed was chasing a first title in Linz after finishing runner-up twice — losing to Camila Giorgi back in 2018, in her first career Tour final reached as a qualifier; and falling to Jelena Ostapenko in last year’s final — carried a 0-2 record into her third title decider at WTA 500 level and was coming off defeats in her most recent pair of finals played (Cleveland 2023 and Linz 2024).

So Alexandrova had plenty to celebrate when she completed a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over 5-seed Dayana Yastremska (WTA #33) in a fascinating championship match that featured two gigantic runs and a thrilling finale.

source: WTA Linz / Alexander Scheuber

The first part of the Linz final was dominated by Alexandrova, who won 9 of the first 11 games while building a set and 3-0 lead.

Yastremska started the 4th game of set 2 with a double fault but then played a trio of beautifully constructed 7-shot rallies to suddenly rediscover her best tennis. From that moment on, a stream of winners flowed from her racquet and soon after she had strung a 9-game run, thus converting a 2-6 0-3 deficit into a 2-6 6-3 3-0 advantage.

As we discuss in detail further down, that massive momentum swing was linked to a reversal in the dynamics between Alexandrova’s serving and Yastremska’s returning.

Even though her opponent was now playing lights-out tennis, Alexandrova stuck to her original gameplan that combined big serving with solid, high percentage tennis that limited risk-taking during rallies to a minimum.

Down 0-3 in the final set, she trusted her serve would keep her close while banking on Yastremska eventually cooling off. Indeed, the three-times Linz finalist stopped Yastremska’s run with a strong love hold brought by 4 unreturned serves, then got back on serve when Yastremska leaked an unforced error from each wing and a double fault during the 5th game. Alexandrova tied the set at 3-3 as she completed a run of 3 games with another winning serve and 2 more unforced errors from Yastremska.

There were no more breaks until Alexandrova served to stay in the match trailing 4-5. At 15/30, Yastremska got within 2 points of victory but Alexandrova’s serve came to the rescue once again, forcing 3 consecutive return errors that led to a 5-5 tie (more details below).

Yastremska looked poised for a comfortable hold in the 11th game as she went up 40/0. But an Alexandrova return winner, only her 5th groundstroke winner of the match, kickstarted a decisive turnaround. With Yastremska accumulating a double fault and 3 consecutive baseline errors in the next 4 points, Alexandrova secured the difference-making break. She would finally clinch a long-awaited title in Linz, but only after a seesaw scrap in the last game.