No. 9 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova stormed into her third semifinal of 2025 with a 6-1, 6-4 upset of No. 3 seed Zheng Qinwen on Friday at the Credit One Charleston Open.

Charleston: Draws | Scores | Order of Play

Alexandrova previously reached the penultimate round in the Lowcountry in 2022, where she lost to Belinda Bencic, but didn't beat a seeded player in that run as the No. 7 seed. This year, she followed up a Round of 16 thumping of No. 6 seed Diana Shnaider with a 1 hour, 24-minute win over another higher-seeded opponent -- her third straight victory against a Top 10 player this year. 

"Even if in some moments, the score seemed easy, I think every game was pretty close and pretty intense," Alexandrova said post-match. "I knew she's a great server and a great player, and I tried to use every single opportunity that I had. 

"I'm glad with the match today, and I'm so happy to be back here in the semifinals."

Read on for more facts and figures from Alexandrova's win, her third in as many career matches against Zheng. 

3: Alexandrova saved all three break points she faced against Zheng, and converted three of the five chances she created for herself.

4: Before coming to Charleston, Alexandrova had lost four consecutive matches dating back to a loss to Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals of the Qatar Total Open. Before that, she had won eight straight, which included a victory at the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz, and two upsets of Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula in Doha.

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She will be facing Pegula for a fourth time in their careers, having won the last two matches. In addition to a three-set triumph in the quarterfinals in Qatar, Alexandrova also won in three sets in the quarterfinals in Miami last year. But Pegula's only win came on clay, in Rome four years ago.

"It's going to be super difficult because she's so consistent and stable on the baseline, so it's difficult to do something about it," Alexandrova said. 

5: Alexandrova started the match against Zheng by winning five straight games -- which began with a tough hold of serve to open. From 40-15, she was forced to save a break point before holding. In the third game, she was also pushed to deuce from 40-15.

8: Zheng took a medical timeout in the first set, where she received treatment on her right arm. She only hit eight winners in the match, two of which were aces.

13: With two victories in Charleston, Zheng had won 13 straight matches on clay before falling to Alexandrova. Prior to winning Olympic gold last summer, she won a second straight WTA 250 title in Palermo.

40: The Olympic gold medalist landed just 40% of her first serves in the match, allowing Alexandrova to win 46% of the points on return.