In what should be an entertaining final, Ekaterina Alexandrova will take on Sara Sorribes Tormo in the final at the WTA Cleveland Open. Both women will be looking to maintain their momentum ahead of the final Major of the year in New York. But who will lift the title?
WTA Cleveland Final Prediction
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
Head-to-head: Sorribes Tormo 1-0 Alexandrova
Somewhat surprisingly, this will be this pair’s first meeting since Sorribes Tormo beat the Russian 6-4 7-6 in the second round of qualifing in Linz in 2016. Both players have improved considerably since then, with Sorribes Tormo reaching a career-high ranking of world #32 and Alexandrova doing better still, with a career-high ranking of world #16 and four titles to the Spaniard’s one. What is perhaps particularly telling is that Alexandrova is currently ranked 22nd in the world, whereas Sorribes Tormo is 95th in the world rankings.
Both have looked sharp this week however. Sorribes Tormo opened her campaign at the WTA Cleveland Open by beating Asia Muhammad in the first round of qualifying before securing her spot in the main draw with a three-set win over Clara Burel. The Spaniard then beat Katerina Siniakova when the Czech retired trailing 2-6 0-4 to reach the second round. She got the better of third seed Veronika Kudermetova there for the loss of only five games. Two more straight-sets wins over Sloane Stephens and Tatjana Maria sent her into the final.
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Alexandrova, meanwhile, seeded fourth at the WTA Cleveland Open, started her week in Ohio with a 6-1 6-4 win over Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig. She backed that up by beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich in straight sets to set up a quarterfinal clash with Wang Xinyu. Alexandrova made a slow start, but rallied to win 5-7 6-0 7-5 before beating Wang’s compatriot Zhu Lin 7-5 6-3 to reach her second final of the season. She won the first in Den Bosch, but this promises to be a tough test.
Sorribes Tormo won’t take the racquet out of Alexandrova’s hands, but the Spaniard’s excellent court coverage will ask a lot of Alexandrova. The Russian will need to generate a lot of her own pace and will need to be willing to step in dictate. Alexandrova is a very fine player, but that is not exactly her strength. If she can find her backhand down the line regularly, that will at least keep Sorribes Tormo honest, but don’t be surprised if the Spaniard grinds her way to an upset win here.
Prediction: Sorribes Tormo in 3
Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
