Aiming to snap a three-match losing run, Emma Raducanu takes on five-time WTA champion Ekaterina Alexandrova in Sunday's first-round contest at the Qatar Open.
The Russian player, fresh off her maiden WTA 500 title in Linz, seeks to avenge her Australian Open round-one defeat by the British player to extend her ongoing winning streak.
Match preview
© Imago
Raducanu has yet to hit any sort of momentum entering the first WTA 1000 tournament of 2025, with a 2-3 win-loss record this season highlighting the 22-year-old's struggles.
Although she got the better of Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova Down Under in rounds one and two at the opening Grand Slam of the year, the 2021 US Open champion's performances were far from convincing, as she was ropey on serve in the former and reliant on Anisimova self-destructing in the latter.
Iga Swiatek was in no mood to hand her gifts in the third round, though, with the former world No. 10 claiming one game from 13 to lose 6-1, 6-0 in round three.
The one-time Major champion's aim for positive runs at Singapore and Abu Dhabi have ended in disappointment following tournament-opening losses to Cristina Bucsa and Marketa Vondrousova, seeing the Brit head into Qatar without a win in three.
Thus, Raducanu enters Sunday's first-round match-up as the underdog despite edging Alexandrova at Melbourne Park a month ago.
© Imago
Much has changed for the Russian player since that defeat at the hands of her 22-year-old opponent, evidenced by a four-match winning sequence ahead of the first 1000 tournament in 2025.
That four-match run of wins included success over the top seed in Austria – Karolina Muchova – and took the 30-year-old player to her first WTA 500 title and fifth overall.
She bids for a fifth victory on the trot by getting the better of her British opponent a month after failing to take advantage of Raducanu's glut of double faults, keen to make the most of her form and momentum.
Having gone into the opening Major of the year with a 1-2 win-loss record, Alexandrova has turned the tide with success in Linz, and the five-time WTA champion will back herself to set up a second-round meeting with top seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Head To Head
Australian Open (2025) - First round: Raducanu 7-6(4) 7-6(2)
Both women tussle on the tour for the second time, a month removed from their first in Australia, where Raducanu edged two tiebreaks for a tight triumph in straight sets.
However, the match was littered with 15 double-faults on the British player's deliveries, even if she fired nine aces past the Russian player.
Raducanu is 2-3 this season, with all three losses coming in consecutive matches before the Qatar Open.
Contrarily, her 30-year-old opponent's four-match winning run has taken the Linz champion to 5-3 ahead of Sunday's encounter.
We say: Alexandrova to win in two sets
It is hard to see beyond a fifth straight triumph for Alexandrova, with the No. 25 player in the world expected to avenge her Aussie Open defeat and inflict another first-round loss in Qatar after last year's early exit to Anhelina Kalinina and third in as many tournaments this year.
