Kremlin Cup: Kontaveit comes back from down low to defeat the home favorite

Kremlin Cup: Anett Kontaveit after a solid semis against Vandrousova lifts the Kremlin Cup defeating the Russian, Ekaterina Alexandrova 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

“To go 4-0 down [in the second set], she was really hitting the balls down the line, she was playing amazing tennis,” Kontaveit said

They were head to head for the second time and Kontaveit leads that duel with 2-0. Had Alexandrova won the match she would become the seventh home champion in Moscow Open.

The returns Alexandrova was firing on the Estonian’s serves, were too much for her opponent to handle. Rock-solid serving, including a 77% first serve percentage, was the bedrock of Alexandrova’s first-set success. Alexandrova was pitch-perfect in the first set not giving any opportunity to break.

Having pocketed the first set, the Russian accelerated in the set breaking Anett twice to go up by 4-0. However, Kontaveit found herself battling hard to break once and that eventually turned the set on its head. Kontaveit with winning seven games in a row grabbed the set with a similar scoreline as her opponents’ first set.

The third set proved to be the most challenging for both players as there were not many opportunities to break. Saving a breakpoint and suddenly breaking her opponent’s serve, Alexandrova was now serving to extend her lead. Alexandrova served for the match at 6-5 in the decider and came within two points of triumph, but was denied in a heartbreaker once again.

No more breaking drama as they both held their serves and the set was going into the tie-breaker. Instead, a sixth double fault followed by a short forehand sent over the baseline ended the clash on an unfortunate note for the home player.

playing her fifth final of 2021, this is Kontaveit’s third title of the season and overall her fourth one. She now stands at a 10 game winning streak indoors.

Anett Kontaveit: “I was just trying to stay in it as long as I could, and I never really gave up. I was just trying to fight for every point as much as I could. If I would have lost 6-4, 6-2 or whatever, I knew I tried everything.

“When these moments happen, which they do happen, I’m just trying to think about the process and not too much of the score, which can be difficult, of course, sometimes. I think that the main thing is to try and think about the process and what I have to do, and not focus on other things that you cannot control.”