Third time's the charm: Andreeva tops Alexandrova to reach Beijing semis

They say the third time is the charm, and that proved true for Mirra Andreeva on Thursday night as she earned her first win over No. 19 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) in 1 hour and 53 minutes to reach the Beijing semifinals for the first time.

Beijing: Scores | Order of play | Draws

Andreeva led 4-1 and served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but Alexandrova mounted a late comeback to force a tiebreak. There, Andreeva fired a forehand winner to take a 3-2 lead, let out a roar and won five of the final six points to seal the victory.

"Even when I had an advantage in the second set leading 5-2, I felt like she was still pressuring me," Andreeva said in her post-match interview. "I felt like she was playing better and I didn't take my chances. I could have played more aggressive, but what a match this was. I'm super happy with how it went.

"She played unbelievable today, and I'm very happy to get my very first win against her."

With the win, Andreeva improved to 1-2 against Alexandrova at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level after failing to win a set in their previous two meetings. She also became the youngest player to reach the China Open semifinals since Agnes Szavay in 2007.

The result sends Andreeva into her fourth career WTA 1000 semifinal. Since the format's introduction in 2009, only Coco Gauff (five) has reached more WTA 1000 semifinals as a teenager.

Stat watch

The numbers heavily favored Andreeva despite the narrow margin on the scoreboard.

She landed 62% of her first serves and won 71% of those points while finishing with a positive winners-to-unforced-errors differential of 23-16, including a 15-5 mark in the second set. Both players broke serve four times, with Andreeva converting four of seven break-point opportunities and Alexandrova 4 of 10.

Andreeva's 296 break points converted are the most by any player in WTA main-draw matches in 2026. Only four players have hit more winners than Andreeva's 1,350 this season: Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Linda Noskova and Jessica Pegula.

Young stars set for battle

Andreeva will face Nikola Bartukova in the semis after the 20-year-old stunned compatriot Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-0 in 67 minutes on Thursday to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal.

It will be the second meeting between the rising stars. Their first came at the US Open last month, where Andreeva prevailed 6-2, 7-6 (5).

"She beat a lot of great players on her way to the semifinals," Andreeva told reporters. "For sure, this match will be tough. Even though I won at the US Open, I still felt like the match was tough. Lots of ups and downs. I think this match is going to be very entertaining for people to watch. She's an amazing player, so I'm super excited to play her again.

"She's also very young, so it's kind of a battle of -- I don't want to say new generation -- but young players."

At a combined age of 40 years, six days, Andreeva and Bartunkova will form the fourth-youngest WTA 1000 semifinal matchup since 2009. The only younger pairings were Iga Swiatek-Coco Gauff (Rome 2021), Ana Ivanovic-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Indian Wells 2009) and Bianca Andreescu-Sofia Kenin (Toronto 2019).

The winner will face either No. 6 seed Elina Svitolina, No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek, No. 13 seed Elise Mertens or local favorite Zheng Qinwen in the final.