Ekaterina Alexandrova wins 2023 Den Bosch trophy over Kudermetova

It was an all-Russia clash at the 2023 Libema Open in Den Bosch and Ekaterina Alexandrova proved better than Veronika Kudermetova in three sets 4-6 6-4 7-6(3).

It's a successful title defence because Alexandrova was actually the champion last year as well. She faced Aryna Sabalenka in the final and destroyed her 7-5 6-0 in the final. This one was a bit tougher but Alexandrova once again proved quite good on grass taking down a player whom many would consider better overall than her.

Alexandrova has a really strong serve which many consider her main weapon and she showed it in this match. She didn't serve that well in the opening set which allowed Kudermetova to apply heavy pressure on her opponent and win the opening set 6-4. The second set saw Alexandrova battle back and take it 6-4 with the scrip flipping.

Her serve was much better this time around and it allowed her to win her games easier which is the whole key. On grass as long as your serve does a lot of damage, you're going to be fine overall. The final set was a proper battle between two players playing on a similar level. The set was decided in the tiebreak as neither broke.

Alexandrova was the better player overall missing out on a couple of match points late in the match but she managed to hold her cool and finish off the job in the tiebreak. The tiebreak wasn't particularly close as Alexandrova was able to use all of that momentum from the previous few games to outplay Kudermetova by a good margin of 7-3.

Being able to rely on her serve in crucial moments and playing those crucial rallies a bit better proved the key for Alexandrova who wins the event for the second year in a row.