Some players break into the Top 10 as teenagers, but some take a little more time—like Ekaterina Alexandrova, who makes her Top 10 debut today at 30 years young, moving up one spot from No. 11 to No. 10.
She’s been close for a few years now, reaching the Top 20 for the first time in 2022, then going as high as No. 16 in 2023 and No. 15 in 2024.
But 2025 has been the best season of her career, highlighted by capturing the biggest title of her career at the WTA 500 indoor hard-court event in Linz, which is held right after the Australian Open.
She reached two more finals this year, both at WTA 500s in Monterrey and Seoul, another four semifinals (including at a WTA 1000 in Doha) and two more quarterfinals. She also reached the fourth round at the last three Grand Slams—Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.
The result that put her over the line, though, was reaching the round of 16 in Wuhan last week, coincidentally her 16th round of 16 of the year.
And it’s about time, too, as Alexandrova has clearly shown she can hang with the Top 10—she has 19 career wins against the elite, the majority of them coming over the last few years, including five this year against Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula (in Doha), Zheng Qinwen (in Charleston) and Mirra Andreeva and Pegula again (in Stuttgart).
The big-hitting veteran continues her season in Ningbo this week.
