Alexandrova Aces Wimbledon, Breaks Tiebreak Trends

At Wimbledon, Ekaterina Alexandrova is defying expectations and rewriting her narrative. Despite a self-professed “difficult relationship with tiebreaks,” she’s leveraging them to fuel her ascent through the tournament.

Triumph Over Top Seed

Aryna Sabalenka has dominated tiebreaks, boasting a 16-1 record in 2025. However, Alexandrova stands apart as the sole player to defeat her in a tiebreak this year, achieving the feat in Doha back in February. Iga Swiatek brought this to Alexandrova’s attention, showing her a newspaper highlighting her unique accomplishment.

“Iga showed me a couple days ago,” Alexandrova said. “She said, ‘Look at this newspaper.’ They had a box saying I was the only one.”

Interestingly, Alexandrova also set a record in 2023 as the first woman to win a Wimbledon match in three tiebreak sets. She defeated Madison Brengle 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-6[7] in the second round.

Overcoming Tiebreak Troubles

Before her recent successes, Alexandrova struggled in deciding tiebreaks, losing 16 of her initial 17 matches at the tour level by May 2023. Since then, she has improved, winning four of her last five, though her overall record in third-set shootouts is only 5-21. Even so, defeating Sabalenka has boosted her confidence.

“I’m trying to work out the issues,” Alexandrova stated. “But this gives me some confidence. If you can beat Sabalenka in a tiebreak, you can do something in the next one, right?”

Linz Title Fuels Success

Alexandrova secured her fifth title in Linz this February, marking her first at the WTA 500 level. Furthermore, she has reached four additional semi-finals and holds a 5-3 record against Top 10 opponents in 2025, including victories over Mirra Andreeva, Zheng Qinwen, and two wins against Jessica Pegula.

Alexandrova credits her improved game to her coach, Igor Andreev, with whom she began working last November. He introduced variety into her game, allowing her to use different shots and combinations effectively. Previously, her strategy revolved around hitting the ball as hard as possible.

“He sees the game differently,” she explained. “He’s bringing more variety to my game, so I can use different types of shots and combinations. Before, I was going on court and hitting as hard as I can. If it’s working, great. If it’s not, bad day. But with him, if something is not working you need to find something different. and you need to try until you find something that is working today. If some shots are not working, try another one, another one, another one.

“At first it was difficult because I was used to fast shots and that’s it. I was like, this is not the way I play. But the more I was trying to do it, the more I was able to see that you can always find something.”

Grass Court Prowess

With two titles at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (2022-23), Alexandrova excels on grass. In her first grass-court event, she qualified for Wimbledon 2016, overcoming back-to-back 14-12 and 13-11 third-set victories, and upset Ana Ivanovic in the first round.

“The first time was a lucky one,” she reflected. “I didn’t know the surface at all or what to expect. I wasn’t thinking about what I need to do or not do. I just went on the court and everything went naturally. But even now, it’s really difficult to play on grass.”

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) reports that only 40% of seeded players reached the third round at Wimbledon this year, underscoring the tournament’s unpredictability (WTA 2024). Currently ranked No. 17, Alexandrova is among the highest-ranked players remaining in the draw. On Monday, she will face Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, just a week after defeating her 6-1, 6-2 in Bad Homburg.

“It’s always different and it feels it’s impossible to find the right rhythm,” she commented. “One day it’s hot and it’s flying, one day it’s cold and the bounce is super low. You always need to adjust and adapt. Every year, it’s like playing for the first time.

“I don’t remember many matches on grass where I came off court and thought it was super easy. But you need to be mentally prepared that it’s difficult. Only then is it going to be easy.”