Alexandrova beats Ostapenko in Korea Open quarterfinals

Ekaterina-Alexandrova

Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia reacts after winning. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — Ekaterina Alexandrova broke top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko’s serve five times Friday to beat the defending champion 6-3, 6-2 in a rain-delayed match at the Korea Open.

Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, had reached the quarterfinals or better at six tournaments this year, including the Wimbledon semifinals. Alexandrova came into the match with a 1-7 career record in round-of-16 matches at WTA-level events.

The postponement from Thursday meant Alexandrova had to play her quarterfinal match later Friday against sixth-seeded Hsieh Su-wei.

Hsieh has won seven straight matches since winning last week’s Japan Women’s Open.

In other quarterfinal matches, second-seeded Kiki Bertens beat Evgeniya Rodina 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 and AjlaTomljanovic defeated Mandy Minella 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

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